ANAHEIM -- Shortstop David Eckstein tried to regroup his thoughts Wednesday afternoon about the utter domination that Boston starter Pedro Martinez had over the Angels on Tuesday night.

Martinez struck out nine and allowed only two bloop hits, by Brad Fullmer and Darin Erstad.

Eckstein had never faced Martinez before, and he went 0-for-3 against the Red Sox ace.

"His arm angle is very tough to pick up, and the way he throws his fastball," Eckstein said. "He throws three different types of fastballs; he can cut it, he can make it look like it's going outside and bring it back, and he hits it on the inside corner, too. I didn't see his changeup, but he threw me his curveball and pretty much buckled me.

"Sent me straight back to the dugout."

That came in dramatic fashion to end the third inning, and the many sighs from the crowd of 32,812 told the Angels what they were in for in an eventual 6-0 defeat to Boston.

"He's human, like anyone else," Boston third baseman Shea Hillenbrand said of Martinez. "But he's gifted. To see Eckstein buckle like that on that curveball, and he's one of the better leadoff hitters in the game who leads the majors in getting hit by pitches."

The affable Eckstein said thoughts of the curve had dangled in the back of his mind.

"But where it started out, almost behind me, and it ended up over the plate," he said. "I had never seen that before from him. It was definitely a good pitch. In this game, you want to face the best. You want to test your skills against the best, and he's definitely the best.

"Yeah, he got the best part of us last night. Hopefully, next time we face him we'll have a better approach."