Pedro. Same old song and dance.

[RedSoxRooter]

Well, ol' Petey's in a new place, but he seems to be the same Pedro we worried about last year. He's pitched his first game for the Mets and has the BS meter on red again. Also, his performance was pretty typical of his last couple of years with the Sox. They had better watch it though with how they use him. Sixty pitches in his first spring start seems a little crazy!

 

Anyway, in typical Martinez fashion, he had a high pitch count over three innings and was in trouble most of the time. Yet in that amazing Martinez way only allowed 1 earned run. It's really pretty amazing how he walks such a fine line and almost always gets away with it - but that's what's always made him elite.

 

Anyway, do these lines sound familliar??

 

"He told me he feels as good as he's felt in the last five years." - Rick Peterson

 

"The doctors explained to me that after I did my rehab in 2001, the second or third year would tell me whether I'd feel normal or not," Mart?nez said. "I suddenly picked up velocity without any effort. Now I feel like I can throw every day. So far, thank God, everything has been roses." - Pedro

 

There is no question in my mind that his best years were with Boston before the injury. The Pedro of old would not need 60 pitches in 3 innings of ANY game unless he was hurt. Not that he's hurt, mind you, but he's certainly not going to throw the Mets the best season he's thrown in the last 5 years. And that's without the DH.

 

The prediction for me stands as this: He'll be iffy into June. He'll be great in July and part of August. He'll start to break down in September. Same old (new) Pedro. Personally, I hope he does better and wins the Cy, but I'm glad he's someone else's headache now.

 

Let me also go on record right now and say that DLowe - who I saw pitch 3 innings on 30 pitches against Atlanta today - will have a great year. He looked great, calm, confident and had his s*** going on. Yes, folks, I think DLowe will have a better year than Pedro...

 

Here's the story from the NY Times.

 

JUPITER, Fla., March 4 - The issue of the day, as it always will be with Pedro Mart?nez, is the soundness of his right arm. Mart?nez detests the notion that his arm is as fragile as porcelain, that it must be constantly monitored and babied to ensure he does not break down in July.

Since arriving in Port St. Lucie 10 days early for spring training, Mart?nez has insisted to the Mets' pitching coach, Rick Peterson, and Manager Willie Randolph that he feels strong and healthy. Proving it, he threw 60 pitches over three innings against St. Louis on Friday in his spring debut. That was 16 more pitchers than were thrown by the erratic Cardinals starter Mark Mulder, who was also making his first start, and 5 more than the Mets had budgeted for Mart?nez.

 

So Peterson, who takes a careful and scientific approach to building arm strength in young pitchers, reacted with surprise and mild annoyance to reporters' questions suggesting that Mart?nez had been overworked.

 

"That's not his first outing," Peterson said stiffly, referring to the 36-pitch simulated game Mart?nez threw five days before. "He told me he feels as good as he's felt in the last five years." Because Mart?nez feels no concern, Peterson said, "I don't."

 

Facing the team he shut out for seven innings in Game 3 of the World Series in October, Mart?nez gave up two runs (one earned) and three hits, with three strikeouts and a walk, in the Mets' 7-5 victory at Roger Dean Stadium.

 

The Mets staked Mart?nez to a 4-0 lead in the first inning by batting around against Mulder, the former Oakland Athletics ace who threw 44 pitches in his only inning. Mart?nez actually made his first Mets appearance as a batter, grounding to first for the third out.

 

"It felt a little bit weird," he said.

 

As far as his pitching, Mart?nez said: "I feel healthy. I feel strong. I'm right where I want to be."

 

Still, 60 pitches seems unusually high for a pitcher the Mets invested $53 million in over four years. Mart?nez's health so concerned the Boston Red Sox that they monitored his pitch counts closely and occasionally gave him an extra day of rest to keep him from wearing down. Tom Glavine, for instance, threw 24 pitches in the Mets' spring opener Wednesday, and Carl Pavano of the Yankees threw 30 in his first start Friday.

 

But the Mets are not treating the 33-year-old Mart?nez any differently from Steve Trachsel, who also has thrown a simulated game and is slated to go three innings Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

"He's in great shape, and that has a lot to do with it," Randolph said. "We're not going to get crazy about pitch counts and him throwing one or two more pitches because he's in such great shape.

 

"It's spring training. He's got to be strong right now. If we see something in his arm, we'll make adjustments. If you look at his work and see him throw on the side, he's fine. He's not going to break. Today was a nice easy workout for him."

 

That depends on one's definition of easy. With Fred Wilson, the principal owner, and other Mets officials in the sold-out crowd of 7,438, Mart?nez threw all of his pitches and moved the ball around. But the Cardinals put runners on base in every inning Mart?nez pitched, and he needed 25 pitches to get out of the third.

 

As Mart?nez took the mound for the first time, the sun poked through the overcast for the first time all day. An omen? Hardly. Mart?nez gave up hits to two of the first three batters - a soft liner by David Eckstein that dipped under shortstop Jos? Reyes's glove for a single and Albert Pujols's full-count double to the base of the right-field wall.

 

Two runs scored, on a passed ball between Mike Piazza's legs and Scott Rolen's groundout.

 

"We're still getting reacquainted," said Piazza, who caught Mart?nez more than a decade ago in the Dodgers' minor league system. "He's very spontaneous at times, if he sees something. It's my job to make it smooth."

 

Yet Mart?nez, with his long curly hair flapping in the breeze, made several quality pitches in the first inning. He struck out Roger Cede?o flailing at a changeup, and finished the inning by striking out Jim Edmonds on three pitches, the last a perfectly spotted fastball on the outside corner for a called strike.

 

A slick double play started by second baseman Kazuo Matsui with a long backhand flip helped Mart?nez complete a scoreless second inning, when he threw only five strikes in 13 pitches. Mart?nez passed his 55-pitch limit while battling Pujols through an eight-pitch at-bat in the third. Pujols grounded up the middle after fouling off two full-count pitches, and Matsui knocked the ball down and threw him out.

 

"The doctors explained to me that after I did my rehab in 2001, the second or third year would tell me whether I'd feel normal or not," Mart?nez said. "I suddenly picked up velocity without any effort. Now I feel like I can throw every day. So far, thank God, everything has been roses."

 

The Mets hope the roses remain in bloom deep into summer.

[ahhchon]

you my friend are really pathetic. how could you bash the greatest pitcher to ever put on a sox uniform? this guy was god on the mound. he's obviously past his prime, we all know this. just let it die allready. almost every player says that they feel better than ever when asked how they have recovered from injury.

 

wait till you hear it from wade miller, oh wait, i allready have.

 

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000VCZ5W.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

 

there you go, hopefully that'll stop the bleeding for another 6 hours before you post about nomar, bonds, sosa, canseco etc etc.

 

john

[yeszir]

John, he really wasn't bashing Pedro I don't think. This post essentially sums up what Pedro is, really. It's the truth, and you can't deny the truth. He gets into trouble a lot, but nearly always manages to get out of it. To me, this is a compliment for him. Like RSR, it's what's made him great.

 

And the fact that Pedro Martinez threw 60 pitches in the first game of spring training is definitely shocking. Maybe the Mets don't realize how fragile he is, or how injury prone. Then again, maybe he's in the best shape of his career. I guess only time will tell.

[RedSoxRooter]

It's not as shocking that he threw 60 pitches in his first spring training game as it is it took him 60 pitches to get 9 outs. I'm not bashing Pedro, I'm just saying that he's no longer the 50+ million dollar pitcher he (and some of you) think he is.

 

And no, I'll never bash Nomar. Nomar's playing this year on the cheap to show he's still a great player. Pedro's doing the exact opposite.

[BoSox Rule]

I stopped reading when I got to "

Anyway, in typical Martinez fashion, he had a high pitch count over three innings and was in trouble most of the time."

[RedSoxRooter]

get over it.

[BoSox Rule]

Nothing to get over

[BigPapiEnFuego]

Wait a minute.. what team does Pedro play for? Oh right, not the sox. Lets move on now...