Back to mum. For the past couple of weeks, the formerly talkative pitcher known as Pedro Martinez has been talking again as he rehabs from a muscle pull. He was especially loquacious in the Globe this morning, expressing concern to columnist Jackie MacMullan about pitching coach Tony Cloninger, who's being treated for cancer.

But no more, apparently. Because Martinez tells the Herald's Tony Massarotti that, now that he's pitching again, he's zipping his lips. "After [tonight], no more talking again," Martinez says. "Back to normal."

Despite an utter lack of pitching, the Red Sox continue to hover around first place. Yet this is somehow a distinctly unlovable team. Martinez's silence isn't the whole reason by any means, but it's part of it.