The Mets record is 93 and 65; they clinched the NL East over a week ago.  At the time they clinched they were about 14 games ahead.  They did all this without Pedro Martinez.  Since the end of April, Pedro has won 4 games, that’s it.  On April 28th Pedro defeated the Atlanta Braves.  His record on that night was 5 and 0.  Since then is record is 4 and 8.

After April 28th the Mets team record has been 77 and 58, a fine record.  In reality since then, Pedro has contributed more to the loss column.  So where does the media get off predicting doomsday for the Mets because Pedro can’t pitch.  If I were a Mets player I would feel somewhat insulted.  The Mets achieved championship status this year on their own, without Martinez’s help.  Ironically though, the reason why the Mets have won the division after two years under Minaya and Randolph is Pedro.

When Jeff and Fred Wilpon decided to hire Omar Minaya as the head of baseball operations, everything changed.  Omar knew that the way to instantly improve the Mets would be to get players that would send a message to the rest of the league that they were serious about changing the atmosphere at Shea Stadium.  Omar told the Wilpons the first thing he was going to do was to get Pedro Martinez to pitch for the Mets.  The Mets owners thought Omar was crazy.  How in the world, they wondered, could Minaya get Martinez who just helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series?  Omar visited him at his home, convinced him that he would build a world class team, and promised to give him a four year contrast worth huge dollars.  Pedro signed.

Many general managers and critics felt the Mets got hosed.  Pedro was getting older and more fragile.  They said he would break down way before the end of the four year contract.  The Mets likely would eat a huge part of that money.  Most felt the Mets would be lucky to get two productive years out of Pedro let alone four.  Well they may have been right.  In fact he has broken down before he completed two seasons.  But signing Martinez was the right thing to do.  It sent a message to other clubs and their fans that the Mets were serious; this time they weren’t just blowing smoke.  Shortly after, the Mets signed Carlos Beltran, a player most thought the Mets could not signed.  True, Beltran wanted to play for the Yankees but the Mets showed him the money, the Yankees didn’t.  The fact that the Mets signed Pedro influenced Beltran to sign with the Mets.  In terms of procuring players, things began to snowball.  More good players wanted to come to the Mets. New York played a very respectable season last year finishing above .500 for the first time since 2001.  This year they are, at the very least, the National League East champions.

So Pedro has not helped the Mets on the field much this year, but the effect of Pedro has.  His winning attitude and his competitive nature has rubbed off on the Mets and he helped attract other dominating players like Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner.  The Mets have already gotten their money’s worth on Pedro’s contract. Signing Pedro was like a long term investment.  The big money contract up front has started to pay dividends now.

The future of the Mets looks very bright.  Pedro helped create that but physically he will very likely not be apart of it.  Is his career over? Who knows, hopefully he can get himself healthy over the winter and be ready to contribute for 2007.  Even a halfway decent Pedro Martinez is better than most starting pitchers. But for this year, he is done.  The Mets cannot take a chance on giving him the ball in crucial playoff games especially in the short first round.  The Mets must do the right thing.  Throw the arms out there that got them to the playoffs.  Those pitchers are Glavine, El-Duque, Trachsel, and Maine.  Pedro with his Mets Wiffle ball bat will be the best cheerleader the Mets could ask for.

I’m not that concerned about Pedro not pitching in the post season.  As I have stated, the Mets got to where they are without him.  My fear right now is the offense.  Currently it shows no signs of life heading into the post season. The Mets have scored one insignificant run in the last two games.  Pedro’s inability to pitch in the post season will not be the Mets downfall.  Not scoring dynamically the way they have done all season will.

Extra Innings:

Things are tightening up in the NL for playoff spots.  The Cardinals finally won a game breaking their seven game losing streak.  Their magic number is 4. The Astros won their eighth in a row and they look poised to be the most dangerous team in the post season.  Houston’s best chance for the post season is as division champs.  The best the Astros can do as far as the wild card is to tie. They are only 1.5 games behind St. Louis.

The brackets as of today