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Pedro Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pitch Count
By J Platt on March 22nd, 2008 9:25 AM |
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Pedro Martinez has been deemed healthy. No longer will he live and die on pre-calculated pitch counts like he did in is limited appearances last season.
“This year, if he’s feeling strong, Pedro is going to go out there and pitch unless he tells me differently,” manager Willie Randolph said, “When Pedro is feeling it, he’s not going to come out of the game.”
This is excellent news for Martinez and the Mets. Martinez’s recovery from rotator cuff surgery has been a long and slow process, but now healthy Martinez will give the Mets the big punch behind Johan Santana.
The decision was made after Martinez’s removal from yesterday’s win over the Nationals. Martinez went five innings, allowing five hits and two runs. After his 71 pitch outing, he was removed, and Pedro voiced his displeasure to Randolph. ”
I felt like I could go two or three more [innings],” Martinez said “I felt fresh – really fresh. I was surprised I was out [after five innings].”
Although I think it’s great Pedro is healthy and will be able to help the Mets, management still needs to keep an eye on him. Because Pedro is such a competitor and his road back from surgery has taken so long, he definitely appears to be out to prove to the world he’s back. From not icing his arm after starts, to “allowing” Santana to start Opening Day, to saying he wants to pitch more innings in a spring game (even if it is to work on pitches), it’s a long season, and it’s probably in his and the Mets’ best interest if he uses his head more then his arm.
Pedro’s ability is undeniable; there’s no need for him to push it.
There is currently one response to “Pedro Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pitch Count”
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I agree with Pedro in that pitch counts are an unwise method that puts the team at risk to lose if the bullpen fails. It’s proven that there are comparable, if not, more injuries since more teams started relying on pitch-counts since 2004. Fans want to see the starting pitcher continue to pitch well if he is on a roll. They do not want to see overpaid average middle-relief specialists blow the game after the starter works so hard to position the team for a victory. There is something special about watching a pitcher go eight innings and giving up one run and wiping the sweat off his forehead as the crowd rises to applaud his performance. That aspect of baseball has been eliminated and the game feels empty. It feels as if we are paying high ticket prices to watch overpaid middle reliefers. If a team uses it’s starting pitchers 7 innings a game and the starters are used to throwing 150 pitches a game, they will likely have a competitive advantage down the stretch of the season and into the playoffs. The Marlins championship coach Jack McKeon pitched Beckett off three days rest. Last year, the Red Sox were willing to risk losing the series by resting their best pitcher. Statistics show that injuries have not decreased since the pitch-count became popular in 2004. Baseball needs to grow a spine and become the real game it once was and not a game of babying millionaire pitchers.