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Pedro wants to pitch for Phillies now

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Pedro wants to pitch for Phillies now

POSTED: Sunday, August 2, 2009, 10:14 PM

Daily News staff

Despite the weather, Pedro Martinez traveled to Lakewood, N.J. on Sunday for a bullpen session, working primarily from the stretch.

Martinez threw 35 of his 53 pitches from the stretch. He was coming off a rehab start for Triple A Lehigh Valley on Friday night when he struggled locating his pitches while throwing from the stretch.

“I struggled the last time only from the stretch,” Martinez said. “So we wanted to specifically to work on the pitches that I missed [locating] while being from the stretch.

“Like I said before I thought it was something that could be quickly corrected and I hope I can put it into place, really quick.”

After the session, Martinez said he feels "really good, excellent."

“I would like to pitch [for the Phillies] right now,” he said. “But it’s not up to me.”

He is expected to make another minor league start on Wednesday, likely for Double A Reading.

Read more in tomorrow's Daily News.

40 comments

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Comments (40)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:21 AM, 08/03/2009

And we have no catching for years to come in the minors, guess we'll have to trade someone valuable off our roster this winter to try to get a rea, honest to goodness ML catcher who can hit a little from some other team.

— Mark1npt

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:21 AM, 08/03/2009

— Mark1npt

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:23 AM, 08/03/2009

Let me get this straight, echosmyron. The Phillies just signed Pedro to "one-year" deal worth $1 million plus $1.5 incentives. But since they traded for Cliff Lee, you want the Phillies to "have the stones" now to simply cut Martinez before he pitches even a single inning because "he cannot help this team." Sounds more like rocks in the head.

— PhightinPhil

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:34 AM, 08/03/2009

And I know Paul Bako is nothing to write home about, but lets not make Chris Coste out like he was Johnny Bench.

— PhightinPhil

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:19 AM, 08/03/2009

trade Hamels, The guy is a head case.Come on he married Heidi from Survivor. He won't be .500 this year. The guy sucks!

— bryky

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:14 AM, 08/03/2009

Ruiz played well enough last year to be the starting catcher on the World Champions. You can accept his low BA. Bako has been a consistent rally-killer and promoting that stiff was a mistake from the beginning. It took a RH bat with at least a potential to get some hits, without adding a lockdown defensive catcher. Moyer is done and you can't seriously compare him to Hamels. That's a joke. Hamels has lost velocity. He's hanging curve balls and they are catching up to his hard stuff. Hopefully he will get by this problem. As for Martinez, they need a RH starter to go with Lee, Hamels and Blanton and he may be an answer.

— Bob1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:14 AM, 08/03/2009

— Bob1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:48 AM, 08/03/2009

Lets forget the Pedro talk until he has at least two quality starts in minors. That would be two more than he has so far. A bullpen session at Lakewood is not exactly a Field of Dreams outing.

— mick314

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:45 AM, 08/03/2009

I can just image it now: Playoffs, tight spot, do or die, Pedro pitching, swingsa right leg 180 degrees after letting pitch fly, hitter whiffsssssssssss.

— NiceToBeHere

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:58 AM, 08/03/2009

I never understood why we traded Jaramillo for Paulino. Jaramillo has been an AS catcher in every level since HS, was a member of a USA team, and he is a switch hitter. I know we had Marson at the time, but he was blocked by Ruiz. Then Paulino, who hit .300 as a rookie a few years ago, was traded for Taschner, a pitcher who is so badthat when he was outrighted to the Pigs he cleared waivers, like Dull stated. You don’t see very often a lefty reliever clearing waivers. Then the guy who beat Paulino for the backup role (Coste) despite missing almost the whole ST, was waived in favor of Bako, a player who was waived a few months before. Now, if any of two catchers get hurt, we got Paul Hoover in AAA and a bunch of future career minor leaguers between him at the two prospects at A level. Oh wait, Bruntlett can catch.

— EL Zorro

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:12 AM, 08/03/2009

Bako choked at the bat Saturday night, should have been able to keep at least one of the two wild pitches from blanton in front of him....but did manage to throw a guy out trying to steal second. I'd rather have Coste.

— Reggie61