Sports Then and Now

Pedro Martinez is back on the main stage with the Philadelphia Phillies.

It is no secret among these parts of my love affair with Pedro Martinez. I can qualify that statement by the countless number of articles I have devoted to him in the past year on these very pages. I have been enormously critical of the Mets organization for their lack of foresight when it comes to this living legend.

I have said it more than once, that if Pedro were to have been resigned by the Mets, his buddy Manny Ramirez would have roamed left field this past year in Citi-Field. But those were pipe dreams, and the reality of another post season begins to today for Pedro when he takes the mound against another former Philadephia Pitcher Vincent Padilla, which excites me as a fan to get the opportunity to, once again, be in the presence of a true future Hall of Famer, and the best pitcher of this past generation.

I love it.

For Pedro Martinez, this is not just your everyday post season start. This is truly his homecoming. Traded to the Montreal Expos in 1993 for Delino DeShields in one of the worst trades in modern baseball history, Pedro gets to stand on the mound where it all started for him those many years ago.

Pedro Martinez started his career pitching at Dodger Stadium as a member of the Dodgers.

I am always reminded that baseball is just a bunch of grownups playing a kids game, and because of the ridiculous amount of money they get, they really don’t care what team they play for, or who their opponent is. That very well may be so, but in the case of Pedro Martinez I highly doubt it.

When I listen to Pedro speak on any subject I find him not only to be articulate, but I sense a feeling of truthfulness and sincerity to his words.

I followed him very closely during his four, not that successful, years with the Mets. I was in the vast minority of those fans who felt that the Mets should have resigned him in the off season, simply because Pedro said he wasn’t finished accomplishing what he set out to do, and I hung on to every word he said, and took it as gospel.

Unfortunately, as for the Mets, we all know how 2009 turned out, and it may not have made one bit of difference whether Pedro was on the roster, or not as far as the results this past year for the Mets but we will never know.

Pedro is a student of baseball history. Not only does he know his place, he relishes in it. Over the years he has become what they say is a crafty veteran instead of a flame throwing throwback to the days of Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale.

He had the skills to make the adjustment and prolong his already Hall of Fame worthy career. Already documented as perhaps the best pitcher of his generation, like Sandy Koufax, there was a five year period while as a member of the Red Sox, that one could argue was not only the best five year period, ever, for a pitcher, but it would put in him among the greatest of all time.

His opponent today is another pitcher who gets to get a bit of revenge on his former team. Vincent Padilla was once a young gun on the Philadelphia staff. He had a blazing fastball that he couldn’t control, and just as he’s had problems in other clubhouses, Philadelphia was no exception.

Joe Torre is an amazing manager who knows how to handle players. I would venture to say that if you had a team with all the “bad boys” of baseball, and put them under Torre’s tutelage they would become a dynasty. What is his secret?

I think the answer is very simple. I thinks he let’s men revert back to their childhood, and play the game for the fun of it, and win, or lose you walk away from each game like it was the greatest day of your life.

Game Two—1:00PM PST. Prediction: My plan worked well for Game One, no need to change my formula for Game Two. The team that scores more than six runs wins Game Two. I think these runs will come after the seventh inning, and I give the edge to the Dodgers to even the series at two.

Richard Marsh is the author of “The Blog” From Vegas Rich and is also a featured contributor on Bleacher Report.