The interview room at Yankee Stadium was near capacity on Tuesday evening. There were scores of reporters there. It didn't feel like an ordinary travel-day postseason news conference.

There were two reasons for this: Baseball is about to crown its champion, and reporters like to be entertained. We know that a Pedro Martinez performance shouldn't be missed, whether it's on a chilly mound or a cozy dais.

With all due respect to the managers involved in this World Series, their daily media sessions can't compare with Martinez's witty voyages to the podium. When he sits behind a microphone — particularly in New York — he is bound to say something of interest. Often, multiple somethings.

At one philosophical moment on Tuesday, Pedro pointed out — correctly — that many people aren't given "props about the good things" until after they are dead.

"So," he said, smiling, "I'm hoping to get it before I die."

Later, Martinez was reminded that fans of the Red Sox — for whom he hasn't pitched since 2004 — will probably lend their full support to him in Game 6 of the World Series on Wednesday night.

In that start, he will try to prolong the Phillies' season. Of greater significance to New Englanders, their former ace will attempt to do so at the expense of the Yankees.

"They don't like the Yankees to win — not even in Nintendo games," Martinez said, drawing laughter from the media.

But Tuesday's finest theater came later in the show, after the language pivoted from English to Spanish. He was asked to comment on how the Yankees have seemed to act as a foil in his career — an archrival when he was in Boston, a crosstown rival when he was in Queens, now a World Series foe.

The question was posed: Is it by coincidence that his decision to sign with the Phillies has brought him back to New York, for the second World Series of his storied career?