Of course, one game does not make a season but one must wonder why after the struggles the Mets pitching staff have had this year why Omar Minaya, supposedly a close personal friend of Pedro Martinez, didn't sign the oft injured pitcher both before or even after the season started.
I started this bandwagon all the way back in October. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/82617-pedro-martinez-one-of-many-reasons. At that point looked upon all the intangibles that Pedro brings to a team including among others, a compulsion to win, a teacher, a motivator, a leader on and off the field, a loose fun guy that players want to have around, and a living legend who your own stars like Santana, Reyes, Delgado and Beltran look up to and respect.
Not to mention if Pedro was on the roster how hard do you think Manny would have pushed Boras to sign with the Mets and if you don't believe that you are foolish?
As the season got closer and it looked like there was going to be a competition for the number 5 spot on the rotation I brought it up again. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/132073-omar-for-the-last-time-please-re-sign-pedro.
Here I talked about the fact I didn't think Pedro was done at all and explained that the type of injury he had required about 18 months to fully heal but more important was the fact that I tried to point out that Pedro was not the type of man that would "quit" on a bad note and his legacy to finish as a star was motivation enough to put out credible performances game after game after game.
I pointed out in this next article http://bleacherreport.com/articles/124549-fighting-for-the-five-spot. that the Mets had three pitchers coming off surgeries that although appeared to be OK anything could happen. Well it did. John Maine is off the shelf for the year. Pelfrey has taken a step backwards from last year, although if you remember he wasn't the same pitcher down the stretch last year as he was in mid-season, and Ollie is just Ollie.
The 5 spot in our rotation has given us far less than Pedro could have done. In fact the second through 5 spot has given us some of the worst numbers in baseball this year. Let me share.
Excluding Johan Santana (thank goodness for him) here's some ugly numbers for you. Those who have started games for the Mets this year only Jon Niese and Nelson Figueroa have a better than 2-1 strike out to walk ratio. The rest, well check out this mess, 343 strike outs to 254 walks and that includes Jon and Nelson. That's the worst in the league. They have won 31 games and lost 32. They have a combined ERA of 5.37.
Pedro's numbers last night in his first appearance. He had 5 strike outs and 1 walk. He gave up 3 runs in 5 innings and was in complete control. He struck out both Derrick Lee and Soriano with vintage Pedro change ups and hit 90+ on the gun when he had to. Two of the hits he gave up were bloops and looked just as fresh when he finished as when he started.
Now maybe he won't go 5-1 the rest of the way but his infusion into the already solid Phillies rotation looks like a sure bet that the Phillies are primed for a long playoff run come October while Omar's band of retreads will have us fight to stay ahead of Washington's surge for 4th place in the NL East.
Yes, Omar, I told you so and told all those critics of Pedro that this mans career was far from over and I already know what their response will be. They will say two things. First, will be but he's only pitched one game and the second, will be of course, he will win because the Phillies average about a trillion runs per game.
What I would like to hear is Omar come out and make a statement like "I made a mistake, and should have signed Pedro when I had the chance". If he did something like that I would back him 100% and fight to see him return. Will he do that and finally take responsibility for any of his poor decisions? Of course he won't and that's why he will be gone no more than 5 days after the season ends.
I wonder if the next guy is smart enough to sign Pedro to a two year contract. I doubt it. Too bad, I guess some people will never learn.
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