News: Pedro Progressing Quickly
By Matthew Cerrone - May 19, 2008 9:52 pm

Pedro Martinez tossed 4.1 innings against St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers in an extended spring training game in St. Lucie.

Martinez will throw a simulated game under the watchful eye of Rick Peterson in Atlanta on Wednesday.

According to Ted Berg, at SNY.tv, Martinez threw 77 pitches, 54 of them strikes, while striking out five batters and topping out at 90 on the radar gun.

from what i can gather, Claudio Vargas will likely get at least one more start following tomorrow’s double header…however, it is possible that pedro slots in to the rotation the next time around, which could mean he is back around the first week of June…frankly, i’ll believe that when i see it…nevertheless, go pedro…

For more on Martinez’s start, check blogs from the Daily News and the New York Post.

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43 Comments »

Comment by Ryan Synagogue
2008-05-19 21:55:27

off topic but , go Jon Lester. Another great lefty to make the yankees’ life a little harder.

Comment by gometzies_18
2008-05-19 21:59:08

yeah thats a great story with him having had cancer and all…

Comment by Maineiac
2008-05-19 22:23:43

A round of applause for Jon Lester!

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Comment by dlpspy
2008-05-20 01:02:00

Amen to that, with all the stuff he has gone through including cancer he deserves it god bless him. I am really proud for him hes been through alot!!

 
 
Comment by NY Sports Dog
2008-05-19 21:59:48

Pedro is going to be a difference maker in the second half….get strong Petey!

 
Comment by metsfan119
2008-05-19 22:01:27

Pedro makes me nervous. He’s a slightly above average pitcher at this point who the Mets will feel compelled to treat as a top flight pitcher. While that won’t be such a problem now, it could be if they make the playoffs.

Comment by cgio07
2008-05-19 22:04:52

Pedro would be more effective then pelf , figgy, or vargas could be in the playoffs

Comment by metsfan119
2008-05-19 22:11:13

I agree, and if he’d agree to be the Mets fourth starter there’d be no problem. Unfortunately, between his ego and Omar’s man crush on him, he’ll be pushed up behind Santana which I think is a mistake.

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Comment by No_Brain_Willie
2008-05-19 22:07:39

slightly above average had higher than a 9 k/9ip last year, albeit a small sample.

 
Comment by darkstar73
2008-05-19 23:13:10

you say all that without even knowing how Pedro is going to pitch, there’s an old saying about assumptions, but oh well. Where do your comments even stem from? He came back last year to pitch 6 IP/start and averaged above a K/IP. Sure, he didn’t have any stamina and had control issues and his whip was up, but if you can’t excuse a guy for those type of things after not pitching for a year and coming back from an intense rehab, then i don’t know what you can excuse a guy for. All I’m really saying though, is let’s see what he does before we say we want Ollie pitching in a big game before we want Petey pitching in that game.

 
Comment by ericinsane
2008-05-20 07:11:42

I dont think so. If they make the playoffs, Santana, Maine, and Perez are their top three starters. Perez and Maine have playoff experience, and they can treat Pedro like a fourth starter.

 
 
Comment by cgio07
2008-05-19 22:03:36

Yeah it was a good game..i tuned in for the last inning. Two young pitchers throwing no-no’s in consecutive years…maybe the mets can learn something from them.

Anyway,

It would be good to see Pedro back, as long as he decides to take it more seriously and pay attention to his body instead of sitting like a bump on a log. Hopefully his clubhouse presence will keep the mets going. As always, Lets Go Mets.

Ah back at the top…it feels nice

Comment by darkstar73
2008-05-19 23:09:49

huh? pay attention to his body and sit like a bump on a log? I don’t even know how you went about forming this opinion, its so ridiculous I cant even believe it. Pedro put himself through an intense year long rehab to come back from a shoulder surgery that was invented for him and that most pitchers wouldn’t even be expected to come back from, and he got himself into great shape, all to see it go by the way side because he pulled a hammy (something that can happen to anyone, even the most athletically gifted and in-shape baseball players, like say, endy chavez) and you’re going to accuse him of being lazy? where do opinions like these even come about, are you that misinformed?

Comment by beltran the warrior
2008-05-19 23:56:13

what exactly can the mets learn by other pitchers throwing no-hitters?

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Comment by dr jones
2008-05-19 22:11:08

thats great to hear. Glad Vargas gets another start though. Really want to see what this guys all about.

 
Comment by Meddler
2008-05-19 22:13:28

Is there a chance the next couple weeks will be something of a competition between Pelfrey and Vargas? Seems foolish to put Vargas on waivers if he’s pitching better than Pelfrey. They couldn’t even trade Vargas right? He signed too recently. Obviously, the ideal is that this becomes a good problem to have, and if Pelfrey’s pitching well it makes a lot more sense to commit to the guy who could help your club for years. If he hadn’t pitched well last night, you’d have have to think Perez might be on the hot seat a bit too.

 
Comment by Metdamage
2008-05-19 22:15:47

Pedro wins games. He hit 90 on the gun tonight and thats a good fastball to with his breaking pitches. If Vargas and Pelfrey continue to pitch well, the the Mets have very good pitching depth. It’s a very good sign that Pedro is pitching on back to back days.

 
Comment by zen
2008-05-19 22:17:20

the clubhouse almost needs pedro more than the starting staff at this point.

nats beat phils 4-0. phils have no heart.

Comment by Ryan Synagogue
2008-05-19 22:20:29

Good thing they got Jimmy Rollins back, looks liek they were better off without him

Comment by backinbusiness
2008-05-19 22:22:50

…third place phillies, clap clap clapclapclap…

sometimes, the tide turns fast in this game.

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Comment by Xavier22
2008-05-19 22:39:09

the tide is gonna keep turning fast all season long in the NL East.

 
 
 
 
Comment by mr.gee21
2008-05-19 22:39:07

Well, if the Sox can have 18 no-hitters, maybe Pedro can come back and give us one. Just one, please…

 
Comment by metsftw
2008-05-19 22:43:43

i guess i don’t feel so bad that redding pitched well against us after he shut down the phillies’ supposedly amazing offense tonight

 
Comment by Nate W.
2008-05-19 23:31:22

I wonder if they will bring Vargas back on 3 days rest (knowing he is in the ‘disposable’ catagory) in Colorado to avoid needing another 5th+ starter to get back around the rotation after this double header.

certainly it wont be Pedro, and Bostick hasnt been that good recently, so why not have Vargas suck it up and go on short rest…

Armas Jr. has been good, and he is set to pitch again on the 23rd, so he would be the logical choice for the 24th.

Comment by bill metsiac
2008-05-19 23:36:55

Why not Pedro Saturday in Colorado? Not for more than 5/IP or 70 pitches, but he’s got a Bullpen Session Wednesday. If it goes well, and Vargas only getting 3 days’ rest between tomorrow and Saturday, why can’t they split the game?

Comment by Nate W.
2008-05-20 09:23:13

Not that Pedro is an option this soon anyway, but they cant split the game because Vargas would have to be DFA to make room for Pedro. Can’t do that in the 5th inning…

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Comment by wesdp1988
2008-05-19 23:43:30

looks like the empire stat building was orange and blue for new yorks best baseball team

 
Comment by dunkenyonutzz
2008-05-19 23:50:02

im really getting tired of every met fan of this guys jock this guy did nothing for us outside of one decent season(05)so please stop going crazy for him bc all he did was let us down in 06(07 alil to late)and now

Comment by Volume11
2008-05-20 00:11:46

Pedro = credibility for the Mets organization.

No Pedro then no Beltran, no Delgado, no Santana, no anyone worth a crap. Like it or not, Pedro added an air of seriousness to the Mets that was sorely lacking…as far as I’m concerned Pedro can get his jersey retired at citifeld without ever pitching another game.