Pedro delivers in debut with Phils

CHICAGO - Pedro Martinez is one of the top pitchers of his era, if not in baseball history. His intelligence, mastery of the strike zone, and quixotic personality all made him a memorable fixture for nearly two decades.

None of that was relevant to the 2009 Phillies tonight. They needed only to see if Martinez could help them this season. "I'm not looking for the Pedro I used to see, because that guy might have been the best pitcher in baseball at one time," manager Charlie Manuel said before the game.

In his first major-league appearance since September, Martinez allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings and the Phils beat the Chicago Cubs, 12-5, at Wrigley Field. The 37-year-old righthander was not efficient or dominant, and appeared spent by the fifth (an inning also memorable for a fan's attempt to distract Shane Victorino during a fly out by throwing a drink in the outfielder's face).

But copious run support helped make questions of durability less worrisome for one night. An offense that managed just three hits in 12 innings the previous night seemed to shake an extended downturn, as each member of the starting lineup had at least one hit.

Manuel said he expected to see a stronger Martinez than the one who went 5-6 with a 5.61 earned run average for the New York Mets last season. "He's in better shape," Manuel said. "He's got a different arm angle than he had last year . . . If he's throwing it 88-90 [m.p.h.], and with a change-up and breaking ball, and his knowledge of how to pitch and his command, he might do a good job tonight."

Martinez began his Phillies career with a lead, after the Phils accomplished in the bottom of the first an achievement that had mostly eluded them for weeks: The middle of the lineup mounted a rally. Triples by Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard bookended a Chase Utley double to give the Phils a 2-0 lead.

Martinez's first pitch was an 87-m.p.h. cutter, a strike to Ryan Theriot; in subsequent innings he pushed his fastball to 92 m.p.h. Theriot popped up to Howard at first. Two batters later, Martinez passed his first minor stress test, striking out Jake Fox to end the inning and strand Derrek Lee, who had reached on a two-out double.

The Cubs' first run came in the second, which Kosuke Fukudome began by doubling. He scored on Jeff Baker's one-out single, and Martinez ended the action there, retiring the bottom two hitters in the lineup. The offense spotted him another two runs in the third.

Seeing his pitch count rise to 55 by the end of the third, Martinez ignored a leadoff single in that inning, plowing through the Cubs' second-, third-, and fourth-place hitters. He did not make the work appear easy, but he did it nonetheless.

The Phillies untightened the game in the fourth, sending up 13 batters in the eight-run outburst. The assault was highlighted by three-run homers from Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez, and left the Phils with a 12-1 lead.

Martinez emerged from the long hiatus to pitch his first perfect inning of the night, finishing as he did in each of the first four innings, with a strikeout. He allowed two, and stranded two, in the fifth to end his debut.

Contact staff writer Andy Martino at 215-854-4874 or amartino@phillynews.com.