Major League Baseball

Pedro displays old ways in debut win for Phillies

Published Aug. 13, 2009 7:59 p.m. ET

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When the Phillies signed Pedro Martinez last month, it looked like a wise, low-risk move. A three-time Cy Young Award winner joined their rotation, for a guarantee of less than $1 million.

All they needed was a No. 5 starter. The one-time ace couldn't offer much more than that, anyway. At least, that's how the thinking went.




After Wednesday night, those expectations are in need of a serious revision.

Not necessarily because of how Martinez pitched in a 12-5 victory over the Cubs, although he performed pretty well.

He threw five innings. He allowed three runs. He prevented big rallies. He enabled his team to win comfortably. He was entertaining, in the way that Pedro always is.

But to me, what Martinez said afterward was far more telling than anything he did on the famous mound at Wrigley Field. In a postgame news conference that lasted more than 20 minutes, Martinez projected a bold optimism about his chances of succeeding this year.

Wednesday's start was pretty good — particularly considering it had been nearly one calendar year since he pitched in the majors — but the 37-year-old seems to think he's capable of much better.

"I'm totally different," he said. "If you look at me — attitude, aggressiveness, physically — I look better than I did the previous two years in New York. I just feel so healthy. It's like a shame that I would go home (and retire), feeling the way I feel.

"I'm just coming back. I'm not 100% yet. I feel like I can compete with these guys."

At one point, Martinez was asked when the last time he felt this good. His reply was startling.

"Early 2001," he said.

Understand that Martinez went 50-17 with a 2.84 ERA for the Red Sox, pitching in baseball's toughest division from 2002 through 2004.

During that time, apparently, Martinez was not feeling as good as he did on Wednesday night in Chicago.

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