THE FIRST time he set foot in Dodger Stadium all those many years ago, Pedro Martinez watched Tom Glavine pitch a nine-inning shutout. Imagine going to your first concert and seeing the Rolling Stones or watching golf live for the first time and seeing Jack Nicklaus win the ’86 Masters.
That’s how Martinez felt watching Glavine pitch that shutout.
That was 1991 and Martinez had just started playing for the Dodgers’ Single-A team in Bakersfield. A road trip sent his team through Los Angeles, and Pedro’s brother Ramon got him into the game.
“Glavine was the first pitcher I ever saw pitch,” Martinez said yesterday. “He was incredible that day.
Incredible.” Over the last 15 years, the two have crossed paths, competed in the National League and now captain a Mets pitching staff preparing for the postseason.
That’s why it was about so much more than baseball when Martinez learned earlier this week Glavine’s season and career hinged on a doctor’s report.
“My concern was for his life and his family and wondering how bad it could be,” Martinez said. “You don’t think about baseball at a time like that. You think about the man and his family.” Glavine’s prognosis is good and he could be pitching next week. But it was the word “clot” that scared Martinez the most. He had a cousin who died from a blood clot in 1998. He too was a pitcher, a 28-year-old prospect in the Seattle organization. But the death occurred during the offseason and there was no real connection made to baseball.
“Just like that, he was gone,” Martinez said.
That was a sobering experience, one that makes Martinez appreciate whatever time he has in this industry called the major leagues. He has seen careers end in an instant, doing the purest of baseball moves: pitching.
“I was in the minor leagues with the Dodgers and saw a left-hander’s arm blow up like it was a piece of wood,” Martinez said. “Stuff like that brings you right down to earth in a hurry. It’s that way for pitchers and everybody in baseball.
We all realize that what we do, it’s in God’s hands. One day you can be firing the ball 90 mph and the next instant somebody hits a line drive back at you and you don’t even know what happened.” Martinez said all this while sitting at his locker inside an empty Mets clubhouse. Most of his teammates were out taking batting practice, preparing for last night’s game against the Cardinals at Shea. Martinez would soon join them in the outfield after he removed the awkward black boot supporting his right foot and calf.
He has been wearing the boot since being placed on the disabled list on Aug. 16, a temporary setback for Martinez and the Mets who want everything right by October.
Martinez, however, is eager to test his recovery and just as eager to stretch a pitching arm that has been idle for nearly 10 days. He’s scheduled to come off the DL next Wednesday, but it doesn’t sound as if there is any rush for him to return.
“I don’t really know what to expect,” he said.
At least he knows when he is healthy, Glavine figures to be healthy, too. Without a healthy Glavine and Martinez, the Mets won’t win the World Series this year, no matter how much offense they boast. The worst-case scenario is either has a relapse and the pitching staff enters the postseason shorthanded.
Right now, Martinez is hoping for a best-case scenario, not only for himself, but Glavine, too.
