"The story? Heck, you won't find many better ones this postseason.Five years after his last playoff start, Pedro Martinez returns to the mound tonight, his manager having decided yesterday to entrust him with the pivotal third game of this best-of-five National League Division Series. He is one of the greatest active pitchers in the game, a man who has won a World Series and three Cy Youngs, while time and time again displaying a knack for elevating his game to match the moment.He has overcome shoulder surgery and a balky groin and numerous other personal challenges to return to a land that has eluded him since his glory days with the Boston Red Sox.Back in August, after his first start with the Phillies, Martinez sat in a conference room at Wrigley Field and raised the possibility of such a moment."A cold-blooded person that doesn't matter how big the game is," he described himself at the time.But good stories and August proclamations don't win playoff games. And while there is little doubt Martinez will be cold-blooded - along with everyone else on a night when the game-time temperature is forecast to be in the mid- to high-20s with a wind chill in the teens - there is plenty of it surrounding his ability to again perform in October.Since Sept. 13, when he threw 130 pitches in eight scoreless innings of a 1-0 win over the Mets, Martinez has started only two games, throwing 140 pitches in seven innings between them. He has allowed six runs on 13 hits, two of them home runs that came in the regular-season clincher against the Astros on Sept. 30.Since that self-described "tune-up" 10 days ago, Martinez has not appeared in a game. He has thrown off the mound several times and worked extensively with the softball he tosses between starts, but he has not faced any hitters."I've done enough throwing," Martinez said. "I think the softball that I have is about to run away from me, because I've been keeping my hands on that softball too much for too long. But I have been trying to get as much of a feel for the ball as I can."