The Return of Pedro

September 3, 2007 marked the return of Pedro Martinez to a Major League mound. After more than 11 grueling months of rehabilitation from shoulder surgery, the Mets have their "ace" back. In the offseason before the start of the 2005 Major League Baseball season the Mets made a move that would forever change the foundation and direction of what was then a very sorry baseball team. Subtract Art Howe as manager and Jim Duquette as General Manager and add Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya to those positions respectively. And it was Minaya's perseverance that landed the Mets one of the prized free agents in all of baseball, Pedro Martinez. Coming off 7 plus dominating seasons as a SAWK, the Mets were getting the ace and the face they needed for their franchise. And amid reports of a bum toe and the always dreadful old age, Pedro delivered a 15 win Pedro-esque season. He also put fans in the seats, something the Mets hadn't had from a pitcher since a young Doc Gooden.
2006 was a very different year for the Mets and for Pedro. Pedro started the year where he left off in 2005, going 5-1. The ailing toe, however, along with a bad hip eventually led to strain on the shoulder and of course the season ending surgery. The Mets did not crumble when Pedro did. They won 97 games and as announcer Gary Cohen put it on the day they won the division "ran rough shot through the National League." These new Mets were young, feisty, and most important talented. The 2006 team was often described as a team with "IT." Much of that "IT" can be attributed to the arrival of Pedro to Queens only a year earlier. The magical season of 2006 was derailed in the playoffs on an Adam Wainright curveball in game 7 of the NLCS. That is all that will be mentioned from here on out about that game.
2007 was going to be the year the Mets proved to everyone that they were for real. They had their established talent in Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. They had their new veteran acquisitions in Moises Alou and Damion Easley, and they had a solid core of starting pitchers led by the now 300 game winner Tom Glavine and the ageless Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Mix those 2 with solid youngsters John Maine and Oliver Perez and throw in a makeshift number 5 starter and the Mets pitching would overachieve. They were missing that something they had all of 2006 though. After a dominating start to the 2007 season, the Mets struggled with a stretch of rather indifferent play. Now as we have marked the return of Saint Pedro back to the team, the Mets find themselves once again as the best team in the National League and with a division lead that can be considered comfortable.
With Pedro back, all the pieces are now in place for this team to soar to even greater heights than it did last season. Talk about full circle, Pedro's first start as a Met was against the Reds in Cincinnati in April 2005 and Pedro's return to the Mets was against those same Reds in that same Great American Smallpark. Pedro pitched well even though he was on a very limiting pitch count of 75. He ended up throwing 76 pitches in 5 gutsy innings. He got the win and recorded his 3000th career strikeout. Pedro's command was there and as expected the velocity dial was not turned up all the way. But as I stated earlier, Pedro was gutsy. Less than a year removed from a surgery that usually takes way more than a year to pitch effectively from again, Pedro toed the rubber and gave the Mets everything he had in a game that was the most publicized Met game since the debut of Mike Piazza. Even with Pedro being anywhere from 70-90 percent, just his presence alone is enough to make opponents tremble. And hopefully now that he will be around in October the Mets won't need a 7th game to try and win a pennant and can bring home a world title, the first since 1986.
The Mets now have a great dilemma as to what to do with their rotation come playoff time. If and when they make it to October, the Mets will have 5 quality starters all deserving of a shot to start in the playoffs. Maine and Perez proved last year they can pitch in the big spot and this year proved they can have productive full seasons as Major League Starters. Duque and Glavine have been the crafty veterans who always show they can pitch that must win game. And then there's that X factor. Mr. Martinez. The Mets organization and all their fans would love to see Pedro start a playoff game for them as that was the key reason for bringing him to Shea in the first place. You don't have 5 starters in the playoffs so one of the aforementioned will be in the pen, and if it turns out to be Pedro, just ask the Cleveland Indians what Pedro can do out of the pen in long relief, in the postseason.