I guess I can chalk it up to a mixture of west coast time and baseball hours. That could be the reason why I woke up at the crack of 2 p.m. today. Worse, if I hadn’t figured it was a good idea to see what time it was, I would have slept straight through to game time.
What the hell?
Make no mistake, though, this is the time for colds, tiredness and other things that go with too many late nights and too little sleep. Tough it out. That’s what you do.
Either way, it’s back at the ballpark to dive into the HUGE Game 4. If the Phillies can figure out Randy Wolf, get ready for another trip to the World Series. If Wolfie can stick it to his old club, buckle up—we’re going to take the full ride.
In the meantime, there was an excellent story on ESPN.com by Jorge Arangure Jr. on Pedro Martinez and what he means to young Dominican pitchers like Antonio Bastardo. The best part of the story was the quotes from Bastardo overheard when he approached Pedro after his masterpiece in Dodger Stadium in Game 2 last Friday.
“Pedro,” Bastardo quietly said. “It was an honor watching you pitch today.”
Martinez grinned.
“Tomorrow,” Martinez told Bastardo, “you and I will go into the outfield during batting practice and we will talk. I have a few things to teach you.”
The importance of Pedro’s arrival to the Phillies can’t be understated. First, there’s the influence he has on guys like Bastardo and Venezuelan Sergio Escalona, two young guys who were little kids when Pedro was pitching like the greatest right-hander who ever lived. Pedro has taken those guys under his wing, showed them the big-league life and what sacrifices and training a pitcher has to abide in order to have a long career.
However, there are also guys like Scott Eyre and Brad Lidge who remember Pedro from that stretch when his numbers surpassed those of greats like Sandy Koufax and forced a few stat geeks to list him as the greatest pitcher ever since 1954.
The biggest question now is determining what to do about Pedro in 2010. The Phillies already have guys like Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer under contract for next season, and have an option for Cliff Lee and likely will offer arbitration to Joe Blanton. Meanwhile, pitchers like Kyle Kendrick and Kyle Drabek are waiting in the wings though the Phillies likely will need other options.
Where does Pedro fit in?
Friends of Pedro say he will pitch next season, though he’s not really looking for a pay day. Instead, he wants to pitch for a team like the Phillies that has a bona fide chance to win the World Series.
“He doesn’t care about money. He has $100 million in the bank,” a Pedro acolyte said. “He wants to win. He’s going to Cooperstown—he knows that. He has three Cy Youngs, a World Series ring and a lot of pride.”
Of course salary is another way of keeping score in baseball. Some players measure respect in dollars, though it is worth noting that Pedro took a prorated $2 million salary that came to approximately $1 million and earned approximately $500,000 in bonuses this year.
He probably earned a helluva a lot more in potential earnings with the seven innings of two-hit/shutout ball.
So what’s next for Pedro? Or how about Game 6 of the NLCS (if necessary) or maybe a start at Yankee Stadium in the World Series.
How fun would that be?