Pedro Gets 3000
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by Romiezzo
New York Mets' pitcher Pedro Martinez returned to the MLB in a very strong start, as he and the Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 10-4. With Pedro Martinez coming back and pitching very well, you know that two things happened. The first aspect is the fact that getting him self-encouraged and winning his first game coming back is going to help give the Mets some more wins. Pedro definitely had things going for him in this game. He had offensive help from Carlos Delgado, David Wright, and Moises Alou, who each jacked home runs to help out Pedro maintain the Mets' lead. Secondly, and more importantly for Pedro's career, he hit another milestone: 3000. No, I'm not talking about 3000 hits (like Craig Biggio); I'm talking about him being the 15th pitcher to reach 3000 strikeouts. Aaron Harang was his 3000th strikeout.
Pedro was told to pitch no more than 75 pitches. He pitched one over the limit in order to get his last guy out in the fifth inning. He didn't do all that bad, as he pitched 5 innings, with 2 earned runs, 5 hits, and 4 strikeouts.
The day might have belonged to Pedro Martinez, but Moises Alou was a living, breathing reminder that a pitcher needs runs to win -- and he couldn't have been happier about it. This is his fourth year getting to know Martinez, since this is his first year as a Met, after he spent three straight seasons with Pedro on the Montreal Expos from 1994-1996.
"I didn't sleep well last night," said Alou, who signed with New York as a free agent last November. "I guess I was just too excited. I knew what he went through. One of the reasons I came over here was to be with him. He's one of the guys I hang with in the offseason [in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic]. That team in Montreal was like family, especially with him coming from the same town."
"He told me he couldn't sleep," Martinez (1-0) said. "I asked him, 'Why?' and he said, 'I guess because I'm so emotional about this game.' Everybody seemed to be pumped up."
It definitely seemed to pump the team up. Not only did they win this game, but this also a morale booster for the Mets, especially since they recently got swept by the Phillies. They are just cruising along right now and are riding a 4 game winning streak. They are also undefeated in September. With Pedro back, I'm not saying miracles will happen, but it will definitely be harder for the Phillies and Braves to catch up to where the Mets stand right now since Pedro is back and has pumped up a lot of teammates, as well as the fact of them being on a roll ever since they got swept.
Congrats Pedro on reaching 3000! I can't wait to see what you can do for the rest of this month...
