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But it was a windy, chilly night at the Joe. Although the game time temperature was in the mid-60s, it tumbled as darkness approached. The 15 mph wind from the north blowing in made it feel like 55°, robbing Cristian Guerrero of a crucial home run in the 3rd.

Luis Martinez was signed when he was 16. Wild, but with intriguing potential. The Brewers liked the velocity of this young kid and stuck with him even after an 0-19 start in his pro career. With "sink or swim" hung around him, he finally learned how to paddle ---  at least with Beloit in 2000, shaving his ERA almost in half and holding Midwest League hitters to a .203 average. Still with untamed control, he walked almost as many as he struck out.

I saw little of him in 2001. Of the 7 games he played before returning to High Desert, 3 were at home. Even though I saw him strikeout five in his two-inning debut on May 19, all swinging, he went deep on nearly every hitter he faced. On the road, he was horrendous, with a double-digit ERA, 10 hits and 9 walks in 5 2/3 innings.

He returned the next year under the tutelage of pitching coach Stan Kyles, who spotted flaws in Paul Stewart's delivery and turned him from an 0-5 pitcher in April, 2002 to a 12-game winner. Martinez was 1-3 with an 8.04 ERA in the first two unseasonably chilly months of the season, but taken out of the pressure of being in the rotation, he started to blossom from the pen, stringing some very fine appearances. When he returned to the rotation in mid-June, he turned in four straight starts in which his ERA was 1.57, striking out 26 in 21 innings and walking just 6. This was the pitcher we wanted to see....... But he was still a work in progress. From July to the end of the season, his wildness returned and was very inconsistent.

So going into the 2003 season when fans knew Luis would be back, it became a great mystery what Stars fans would get out of   Luis......... Would he continue to progress, or just remain uncontrollable?........ Would he be able to get a handle on that Juan Marichal-style velocity he had since his days in "A" ball.

April 5, 2003 was his first start of the season, the third game of the new season, and the weather for this lanky 6'6" Dominican was no friend.

Martinez used breaking balls to strike out Jacksonville's Jason Repko and Victor Diaz in the 1st, then used his fast ball to cut down Koyie Hill, swinging. He used all of ten pitches. Nice start.

In the top of the 2nd, after the Stars went down in order, Luis fanned Nick Alvarez with a pair of breaking balls and a slider. He tried the fastball on Derek Michaelis, but was not hitting the target, so on a 2-2 slider, down he went......... Five hitters, five strikeouts.

The fast ball was everywhere, and Brennan King walked on 5 pitches, but he set up Lamont Matthews with a couple of sliders, then got him on a 1-2 breaking ball for his 6th strikeout in 2 innings. The breaking balls were sharp, so he relied a lot on them.

He still looked strong in the 5th when he struck out three of the four batters to face him --- a total of 11 strikeouts now, and I knew from my seat that Luis could easily break the club record of 13. Not only that, he had a no-hitter going. But Luis had thrown a lot of pitches for five innings (84 --- 59 of them for strikes) and combined with the inclement weather, the hook came out.

But it wasn't all about Luis, as exciting as it was to watch him pile up the Ks.  So many plays were important in this 13-inning thriller.

The Suns were poised to break up a scoreless tie in the 6th. With Nick Alvarez on third and one out, Brennan King hit a sharp bouncer to third. Alvarez broke for the plate. Corey Hart fielded and fired the ball to the plate --- a strike to catcher Joel Alvarado. Alvarado took a ferocious hit at the plate, but somehow held on to the ball, preserving the tie.

The Stars finally scored the first run in the 8th --- a sacrifice fly by Brandon Gemoll that scored Geoff Jenkins on a rehab assignment. They held onto that thanks to Dave Krynzel. After Derek Michaelis drew a one-out walk, Brennan King lined a smash to right-center. Krynzel, showing off his considerable speed, chased the ball into the alley and made a sprawling, diving catch at full tilt to steal away a certain extra-base hit and potential tying run.

Even Jacksonville's run in the top of the 9th had a dramatic flair. With one out, an ill-timed passed ball on strike three allowed Dave Detienne to reach first. Pinch-hitter Tarrik Brock cashed in on the mistake, ripping   Mike Adams' 3-2 pitch to right-center for a double to tie the game.

Both bullpens were impeccable through the next three innings, each team managing only one runner to reach scoring position. Then a day after his dramatic pinch-hit 3-run HR, Ryan Knox ripped a one-out single to center. J.J Hardy walked after Ryan stole second. Corey Hart at the plate.

Hart hits a bouncer to short --- double play written all over it --- Hardy, barrelling down the line, was forced, but his aggressive running forced Victor Diaz's relay to sail off line, pulling Michaelis off the bag. Knox had broken on contact and never hesitated. He wheeled around third. His slide beat Michaelis's throw home for a 2-1 victory.

Only three games into the 2003 season, it would remain one of the most memorable and was high on my list as one of the 10 best games of the year.

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