The shell of Pedro.

Do you know who I think is the best pitcher of all time?  Yes, you guessed right.  Well, you didn't guess if you read this blog regularly.  But whatever, the answer is Pedro.  I take into account peak years a little more, obviously.

So last night, Pedro Martinez flashed a little brilliance--at times anyway.  He "lit" up the radar gun, according to the highlights, hitting 92 and as high as 93 MPH.  There are signs that point to league-average, rather than sub-par, or even horrendous.  After all, that velocity is greater than expected.

But is dialing up at this age, with this kind of stuff, going to cost him?  I can't say for sure, because I didn't get a chance to watch the game, only the highlights.  And maybe the guns were pitcher-friendly last night.  But it is possible that he threw a few of those pitches with a little extra "oomph" behind them.

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Anyway, Pedro struck out five, in a typical "Shell of Pedro" outing, as he went only five innings.  He only allowed one base-runner to reach via the free pass.  So those two statistics are very good after a mere one start.

But from watching the highlights, it looked like some balls were being hit well off of Pedro.  Maybe a little luck was involved.  But then again, it was his first Major League start of the season, so we should cut him a little slack.

Moving forward, Pedro probably will give the Phillies a few quality starts if he stays healthy.

But...

A) Health is a huge question mark at this point in his life/career.

B)  Those quality starts will probably be mixed in with some of these five inning, three runs, maybe four runs allowed games.

Pedro Martinez was great, and will be great either way.  But it angers me when I see his adjusted ERA falling, as it does just about every time he takes the hill.

But it was definitely encouraging to see that velocity...