Petey the Great!

[Boy Howdy]

How fortunate I feel every time I get to watch Pedro Martinez on the mound.

Sure, he's not a 200-inning guy anymore, but he's a master, an artist, touched by God. However you want to say it.

I'm rooting for the Phillies in the NL as long as he's wearing their uniform.

My favorite two "in person" Pedro moments:

1) Seeing his last win at Yankee Stadium as a member of the Red Sox in April 2004. He hurled 7 shutout innings, and slapped new Yankee A-Rod on the butt after a meek groundout. Jeter, in a deep slump, got booed that day.

2) In his first yeat with the Mets, I watched Pedro flirt with a no-hitter into the 7th, outduel Roy Oswalt for a win and finish up a complete game, 12-strikeout 2-hitter with three called third strikes in the ninth.

[Glenn Gulliver Fan]

I completely agree. I have always loved watching Pedro pitch, but there was something eternal about his performance tonight.

His 87-92 MPH fastball makes me somehow root for him even more than when he had 96 MPH up-and-in stuff. He was nipping and tucking at the corners like Maddux. It's brains and heart now and who doesn't love that? It marked the first time in eight years that he threw 130 pitches in a start. He also refused to be taken out that final inning!

I found myself absolutely riveted to a game I would otherwise casually view.

There is also a part of me that is so happy that he is shoving it back in the faces of all the teams that treated him like an average and forgotten arm.

If I were to list the most enjoyable pitchers to watch over the last 20 years it would be Pedro, Randy Johnson, Lincecum, Dwight Gooden, Maddux and Clemens.

At 219-99 I almost want to scream for him to stop. That final career line is absurd in its dominance. But I watched the whole game tonight without ever planning to. I rented a movie and didn't watch that at all.

Pedro is like a great novel you don't want to finish because once you do, you'll never find another like it. I tried to explain the importance of his start to my mom but she said "The guy on the Red Sox?" so I gave up before I jumped in deep.