On Deck: Remembering Pedro

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Remember not too long ago when Pedro Martinez was the most dominant pitcher in baseball? His rise started way back in 1997, in his last season in Montreal, but where he really took off was in Beantown.

The seven seasons Pedro spent pitching for the Red Sox in Boston were pretty amazing. He went 117-37 while there, and aside from his 3.90 ERA in 2004, he never had an ERA over 2.89. Think about that for a second, and while you're doing that make sure you remind yourself that Pedro only missed a significant amount of time once in his time in Boston, making only 18 starts in 2001 (and going 7-3 with a 2.39 ERA in those starts).

How many other pitchers have been dominant over that length of time? Bob Gibson from 1963-70? Sandy Koufax? Sandy had some good seasons while with the Dodgers, but I would only say he dominated in his final four years there.

No, Pedro was the greatest pitcher I've ever seen, and I say was because the Pedro we've seen pitching for the Mets the last few seasons is not the Pedro I remember.

Will he be able to rekindle the spark tonight?


St. Louis Cardinals (48-37) vs. New York Mets (41-42) - 8:15PM Est.

Pedro has definitely not been the Pedro of old in 2008, instead he's just been an old Pedro. He's only been healthy enough to make six starts for the Mets this season, and he's gone 2-2 with a 7.12 ERA in the process. He's also allowed 12 runs in his last 10 innings, including six in his last start, a loss to the Yankees (they're still his daddy, I guess).

While Pedro has been successful against the members of the Cardinals lineup (nobody with over 5 career at bats against him is hitting over .200), his numbers against the jersey have been somewhat mediocre. In 15 appearances, 10 of which have been of the starting variety, Martinez is 4-4 with a 3.27 ERA.

The Cardinals will be sending Joel Piniero to the mound to duel with Pedro, and Joel hasn't won a game since April 29th. In eight starts since then, Piniero has gone 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA. He's made one start in his career against the Mets, and it came last September when he shut them out for 8 innings to pick up the victory.

His opponent that day was Pedro Martinez.

Tampa Bay Rays (51-32) vs. Boston Red Sox (50-36) - ESPN 7:10PM Est.

If you're one of those people who still isn't buying into the Rays this season, let me reach through this computer screen here and slap you in the face real quick. They're for real, okay? They're not going away, and you aren't imagining this. It's actually happening.

I understand your hesitation, after all, they're the Tampa Bay Rays. The team that was formerly called the Devil Rays and nearly perfected the art of losing constantly. Ever since they stopped worshipping Satan, however, things have been going pretty nicely.

They got the best record in baseball, and are a win away from sweeping the Red Sox for the second time this season and building a 3.5 game lead in the AL East. Odds are they're going to do it, too, because in the first 11 games these teams have played against each other, the home team has won every time.

It'll be Scott Kazmir versus Daisuke Matsuzaka this evening, and while Kazmir is 6-6 with a 2.82 ERA against Boston lifetime, Dice-K is 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA against the Rays. Advantage: Tampa.

New York Yankees (44-40) vs. Texas Rangers (44-41) - 7:05PM Est.

For weeks now, Sidney Ponson has been living in a cave surviving off of nothing but canned peaches, whiskey, and any animal he can capture. He's also been spending his time training for the day he would get his revenge against the evil Texas Rangers, and that day is today.

It was only a few weeks ago that the Rangers released Ponson for being a bit of a douche, even though he was pitching pretty damn well for them. What kind of message is that to send to the kids by the way? After years of showing this country's youth that it's okay to be an assclown as long as you're talented and playing well, we throw this at them? No wonder children are so confused these days.

Anyway, Sidney should be looking forward to taking the mound tonight, because odds are he'll get his revenge. In his career against Texas, he's 8-1 with a 4.67 ERA.

The Rangers will start Luis Mendoza, who kind of sucks, but is a really nice guy. Luis hasn't started a game in over two months, as he began the year in Texas' rotation but an 0-2 start and 9.31 ERA quickly put an end to that.

Everybody Else

• Marlins vs. Nationals - 12:10PM
  
• Twins vs. Tigers - 1:10PM
• Angels vs. A's - 3:35PM
• Braves vs. Phillies - 7:00PM
• Orioles vs. Royals - 7:05PM
• Reds vs. Pirates - 7:10PM
• Astros vs. Dodgers - 8:05PM
• White Sox vs. Indians - 8:11PM
• Rockies vs. Padres - 9:05PM
• Diamondbacks vs. Brewers - 9:40PM
• Mariners vs. Blue Jays - 10:10PM
• Giants vs. Cubs - 10:15PM