arry Walker, the second of his victims, had a question for Pedro Martinez.
''Yeah, were you throwing 400 miles per hour?'' asked Walker, mingling among the media last night in the postgame news conference with Martinez.
Walker was playing for a laugh, and he got it, from both the media and Martinez. On a night when Martinez was the star among the All-Stars, fanning five National Leaguers in only two innings of work, the power-hitting Walker had high praise for his former Expos teammate.
''That's Pedro Martinez,'' said Walker, one of three hitters Martinez fanned in the first. ''Right now, he's the top pitcher in the game and probably will be for awhile. I was pretty nervous the way it was - never mind stepping in against him.''
Martinez put his name in the All-Star record book by fanning Barry Larkin, Walker, and Sammy Sosa in the first and opened the second by striking out Mark McGwire. Four of the best hitters in the game - Larkin at .312, Walker at .382, Sosa at .286, and McGwire at .266 - were punched out by the hard-throwing righthander.
''What you saw was Pedro,'' said teammate Nomar Garciaparra.
Just as Garciaparra said that, McGwire was just settling into the seat next to him in the postgame conference room.
''And just thank God,'' McGwire said to Garciaparra, ''that you don't have to face him.''
Martinez, said McGwire, has ''the best lively arm in the game of baseball.''
Relying solely on a three-pitch assortment of fastballs, changeups, and curves, Martinez skipped effortlessly through his two innings. Only Matt Williams reached base, on a rare error by second baseman Roberto Alomar.
''He has three pitches that are devastating,'' said McGwire, who the night before electrified Fenway Park with his home run display. ''What can you say? He has a good chance to win 30 or more.''
Larkin fared better in his second at-bat, knocking a single up the middle. But by then, David Cone was on the hill for the AL and Martinez was resting his $72 million arm.
''Pedro was just that dominating today,'' said Larkin. ''The last pitch that struck me out was a changeup with tremendous movement. You could feel the fans were really into it ... I didn't really appreciate leading off today, but I had to do it.''
Walker could only kid about what he saw from Martinez in the way of pitch assortment.
''I only saw a couple,'' he said. ''It didn't take long to get rid of me. The way he was pitching, he probably could tell you what was coming and he'd still be able to get you out.''
If he couldn't have the memory of a hit in the All-Star Game, Walker figured he could leave with something tangible. Prior to surrendering his spot in right field, he clipped a wallet-size piece of Fenway turf and put it in his pocket.
''I hope the grounds crew doesn't get mad at me,'' said Walker, who undoubtedly will feel the wrath of Joe Mooney, the keeper of Fenway's green acres. ''I'm going to take this baby home and have it forever.''
McGwire, who finished with two strikeouts and a walk, hadn't given much thought to taking anything home with him. The Tigers, he said, recently sent him a seat from Tiger Stadium, where he hit his first career homer in 1986. The seat had his No. 25 on the back.
''Maybe I'll go in the stands here,'' mused McGwire, ''and get one with 25 on it.''
Or perhaps he could ask Martinez, who already had his number.
