Balls

Following the Red Sox 2004 championship, the Sox chose to retain Schilling over Pedro because Boston hates black people. The Mets swooped in and signed Martinez to a 4 year contract knowing that he'd been pitching for years with a frayed labrum that could tear with any pitch. At the time of the signing, the Mets were desperate for positive headlines, and needed solid veterans to build around budding superstars Jose Reyes and David Wright. The signing of Martinez was instrumental in bringing free agent Carlos Beltran into the fold, although the $119 million they gave him didn't hurt.

Many people scoffed at the length of the contract because of the risk of injury. Personally, I was all for it because if he gave them 2 Pedro-esque years the Mets would have a great chance to contend for a championship. The size of the contract was inconsequential in these days of paying players in Monopoly money. Pedro gave them almost 2 years, which is a damned shame because had he been able to pitch in the 2006 postseason, the Mets would have won the World Series that year.

After missing almost the entire 2007 season recuperating from surgery to repair his shoulder, Pedro came into '08 in better shape than he'd been in a decade, and full of optimism to prove that he was still a very, very good pitcher. This was doubly important to Pedro as this is the final year of his contract, and if he wants another one he has to prove he can stay healthy. So in the relative warmth of the Florida night, Petey took the hill against the anemic Marlins offense and promptly gave up 4 runs in 2 innings. Well shit. Settling into a groove, Pedro retired the next 5 batters he faced. Unfortunately, while inducing a ground out from that fifth batter, Martinez hopped off the mound clutching his left leg. You. Must. Be. Kidding. Me. Nope, early word is a strained hamstring and Pedro is day to day.

I can only hope that's all that's wrong with his leg. A torn hamstring likely means the end of Pedro's career, especially with the Mets. More selfishly, the Mets were counting on Martinez to take the mound against opposing team's #2 starters, allowing Oliver Perez and John Maine to square off against lesser pitching. Having Pedro spin his 6 innings of dominance every fifth day would probably have accounted for at least 2 or 3 extra wins over last season, hugely important to a team that fell one game short of the playoffs.

Adding insult to injury, the Mets lost 5-4 in 10 innings after rallying from an early 4-0 deficit, yielding a walk off home run to some asshole I've never heard of and who would probably struggle to crack the 25 man roster of your average AAA baseball team. Fuck the Marlins and their sorry excuse for a team!