I understand your point, but there is a huge difference with the Litte-Martinez situation. Little took Pedro out after 7 innings,(or earlier), during the entire regular season and all of his previous playoff starts because he knows Pedro cannot reliably go more than seven innings. Martinez throws very hard and is slightly built, which means he runs out of gas after seven innings. His pitching limit has been about 115 pitches for the last two years. This everyone knows, especially Grady Little.
The fact that Grady Little made the trip to the mound after seeing Pedro fall apart in the eigth, and then decide to leave him in anyway, will forever remain a mystery to some, and a downright mindless blunder to the rest of us. Especially since his entire bullpen was chomping at the bit and ready to go. The Sox bullpen had been superb and almost untouchable throughout the playoffs. This will go down in Red Sox annals as the most bizarre, counfounding and self defeating act in thier entire history. There is nobody who can ever adequately explain Grady Little's bizarre reversal of strategy in how to manage the arm of Pedro Martinez. All of New England groaned when Grady Little walked off the mound that night and left Pedro in for the slaughter.