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| NEW YORK -- The Big City's attention was quite divided on this September Sunday. But then, it often is at this time of year. NYC had the pennant races to ponder, and A-Rod's magnificence was worth watching. The U.S. Open was finalizing; the NFL was opening. And not too far from the Federer final was more farm philanthropy from Willie Nelson. Hardly lost amid all else that Sunday provided was an event at Shea Stadium. The return of Pedro Martinez to the mound in Flushing was nothing less. Moreover, it was an unqualified success with implications that carry into October and celebrations that carried down ramps and out the exits. First by mere presence and then by his performance, Martinez turned what might have been a routine game in a National League championship season into a Game of Chants, some so loud they might have disturbed the tennis folks across the street. That the Mets completed a sweep of the Astros with a 4-1 victory was almost secondary to the nearly 52,000 who had gathered. For five innings at least, the first-place Mets were reduced to also-rans in their own house. Pedro took precedence. He pitched five scoreless innings in his second start since returning from surgery to repair his rotator cuff. Even before he threw the first of his 92 pitches, Martinez was embraced by Shea, and after he had shut down the faded Astros, he was hailed, even given an in-game curtain call, a rarity for a pitcher. "He turns on the ballpark, doesn't he?" general manager Omar Minaya said even before Billy Wagner had provided a happy ending for this special day. Martinez had surrendered six hits and a walk and struck out four in gaining his second straight victory, allowing the Astros to breathe but cutting off their air supply when they threatened to score. They left nine runners on base during his workday. At the same time, the Mets beat on Roy Oswalt enough that they won for the eighth time in nine games, retained a six-game lead in the National League East and reduced their clinching number to 15. The Mets completed their second series sweep at home -- the A's were their other sweep victim -- and beat a National League Central opponent for the 28th time in 39 games while putting their record 20 games over .500 for the first time this season. They did all that without their regular third baseman -- Sunday was a day of rest for David Wright -- and with Moises Alou and Carlos Beltran doing the heavy lifting against Oswalt. But it was Martinez who stirred Shea and prompted visions of games in October and even a parade in November. "It's the perfect time to get hot," Willie Randolph said. "If he is what it looks like he is, Wow! What a lift!" Paul Lo Duca said. "He's coming on just at the right time." The vision Minaya shared didn't reach October. As impressed as the general manager was by what he had witnessed, he wasn't prepared to pronounce Martinez the Game 1, 2 or 3 starter in the NLDS. Nor was Martinez. And yet, not yet a year removed from the scalpel's cut, he sent a message intended for Minaya, Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson and the batting orders of the teams with Wild Card aspirations. Martinez tossed his cap, his changeup and his chutzpah into the ring. "I want to be part of the team that's out there playing it. I don't want to be left out," Martinez said. The "it" was the postseason, the games Martinez missed last season when his 2,645 innings conspired with his then-34-year-old body to deny him and the Mets a place in the World Series. He didn't say it quite that way, but all these months later, Martinez did lament specifically the two-strike fastball Guillermo Mota threw to Scott Spezio in Game 2 of the NLCS, the pitch that changed everything. Somehow, had Martinez been available in fall, that pitch wouldn't have happened. He knew, too, that Lo Duca's call for a changeup was appropriate. Martinez wants to throw his changeup in a game of consequence come October. "He wants to test himself, challenge himself," Minaya said. The general manager characterized a fastball Martinez threw to Oswalt, clocked at 92 miles per hour by Shea's liberal radar, as a test. "He was curious what he had," Minaya said. But most of Martinez's pitches were in the 86-88 mph range and designed to deceive, not overwhelm. He says he prefers it this way -- less strain, less stress -- so long as the bottom line reward is the same. He watched Tom Glavine shut down the Astros for seven innings on Saturday, and admired the way it was done. "If I could pitch like Glavine -- effortless," Martinez said. Martinez isn't the hard-thrower he was 10 years ago, but his performance on Sunday was hardly so different from some performances last season and earlier in his career. The 95-mph pitch is gone, but he didn't throw it all that much back then. "But he had it, and the hitters knew it," Glavine said. Most of what Martinez threw on Sunday was offspeed -- an improving, but "still not there" curve, an occasionally devastating changeup. He changed to sinking fastballs after his pitch count soared to 65 in three innings. And there is a reason the Astros rank 13th in runs and 12th in batting average. He wasn't facing a great challenge. Moreover, he had a lead -- albeit slim -- after one inning and a two-run lead after three. Beltran drove in Luis Castillo with a single in the first and Martinez with a sacrifice fly in the third. Martinez had doubled leading off. With a runner on, Alou hit his 11th home run in the fifth against Oswalt (14-7), providing a margin for error that Mota tested in the sixth when he allowed a home run by Luke Scott and loaded the bases before escaping with no further damage. By then, Martinez had been curtail-called. The city could embrace him again. He hadn't pitched at Shea since Sept. 21, hadn't won there since Aug. 9. He wanted to say, "Thanks." He stepped from the dugout, smiled and waved. "I wanted to give something back after they've been so loyal and faithful," Martinez said. "But I was expecting the curtain call for the double." |