Martinez once got booted from Yankee Stadium. Now he could help boot Yanks in Game 3

ST. PETERSBURG -- Nick Martinez knows how rowdy things can get during a big game against a division rival at Yankee Stadium.

Oh, sure, he started a couple meaningful games against the Yankees in the Bronx this season. But have you heard about the time the Rays’ American League Division Series Game 3 starter got kicked out of the ballpark?

Martinez spent his college days pitching and hitting for Fordham University in New York. In between classes, practices and games, he found plenty of nights to head to Yankee Stadium and sit in the stands as a spectator.

One of those nights came during his junior year, after Fordham’s baseball team canceled its practice. That gave Martinez and his roommate time to head out early and, well, “get ready” for a game against the Red Sox.

This is the way Martinez told the story back in May.

“Might have had a few too many adult beverages. Got kicked out. Yeah,” he said, grinning. “They were playing the Red Sox, so it was rowdy. We were kinda rowdy.”

Martinez wasn’t exactly banned from the building, but the next time he saw the Bronx ballpark, he was a rookie right-hander starting for the Rangers on July 22, 2014.

He’ll be back again to start ALDS Game 3 for the Rays on Wednesday night, looking to help his club sweep New York and punch its ticket to the ALCS. The uproarious atmosphere at Yankee Stadium should be no surprise to Martinez -- nor is it likely to faze Tampa Bay’s veteran leader.

Martinez pitched well everywhere in his first season with the Rays, finishing the regular season 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA and 3.9 wins above replacement (per Baseball Reference) in 180 innings over 31 starts. His team was 22-9 overall behind him.

But Martinez was especially good away from Tropicana Field, going 7-3 with a 2.38 ERA in 16 road starts this year. And he pitched well in a pair of outings at Yankee Stadium, holding New York to only three runs over 12 innings in the Bronx.

That is only part of the incalculable impact Martinez has made for the Rays after joining them as a free agent in mid-February. As good as he’s been on the mound -- and he was a first-time All-Star this year for a reason -- he has been even better inside Tampa Bay’s clubhouse as a driving force behind the team’s celebrated chemistry.

“He’s the best in the world. He's a great teammate. He's a great person, on and off the field,” Rays DH Yandy Díaz said recently through interpreter Kevin Vera. “With a guy like him, the way he carries himself, life benefits you in a lot of ways just because of how good of a person you are. That's Nick Martinez.”

“Second to none,” echoed left fielder Chandler Simpson. “I don’t know where we would be without him.”

It’s rare for any individual player to receive so much credit for his role in a team’s clubhouse culture. It’s even more unusual for that to be a starting pitcher, much less one in his first year with the team.

But that is who Martinez has always been, as the Rays learned early on in Spring Training and came to appreciate throughout the course of the season.

“A 1A clubhouse guy in my career, and I could give him all the credit for most everything that's happened this year,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “He's the same guy no matter where you see him at. Takes care of you. Takes care of everybody. Just positive. Always a smile on his face. He's always doing something that could benefit someone else.

“If there was one MVP on this team, it’s him.”