Comments on: The Pedro I Know

By: Jonah

Jonah — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:32:04 +0000

Good stuff, Ken, excellent point. Of course purposely throwing inside is different than gunning a fastball right at a guy’s head. Pedro has often done the former. I can’t remember him ever doing the latter.

By: Ken Arneson

Ken Arneson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:51:17 +0000

For game 1 of the 2003 ALDS, I went on Craigslist and found a seat right behind home plate in the upper deck of the Oakland Coliseum. And when I say right behind, I mean *straight, directly* behind the plate.

From that angle, high above the plate, I had a perfect view of where the ball crossed the plate. I could see why (a) Pedro was great, and (b) why he would get a headhunter reputation.

Darn near every pitch he threw crossed the plate right on the black of the plate. And more often than not, not just on the black, but *partially* on the black. 1/3 of the ball would cross the edge of the plate, and 2/3s of it was off the plate.

His control was phenomenal. No other pitcher I saw that day, except perhaps Keith Foulke, came anywhere near hitting the edges of the plate with any kind of consistency at all.

So when a pitcher with that kind of control suddenly drills you, you have to think it was on purpose.

By: Offday Reading: The Longest Day | pitchers & poets

Offday Reading: The Longest Day | pitchers & poets — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:54:13 +0000

[...] Jonah Keri is at his best when writing about the Expos, including Pedro Martinez. [...]

By: Jonah

Jonah — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:49:32 +0000

Thanks Mike!

Google’s guess is as good as mine on finding that DVD, I’m afraid. I was just lucky to have a buddy who had it and knew I was an Expos nut (well I guess everyone knows I’m an Expos nut, but you know what I mean).

By: Grand Pedro à Montréal | stream4.me

Grand Pedro à Montréal | stream4.me — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:26:35 +0000

[...] Great stuff from Jonah Keri; it’s especially nice to revisit the hidden perfect game in San Diego. (I think the Expos had a leadoff runner on in the 9th but couldn’t get him home.) I will only add that 1)Showing the prescience for which am I justly famed I was not merely ambivalent about but strongly opposed to trading DeShields to get Pedro, and 2)while Sanders charging the mound after being hit by an 0-2 pitch 5 outs from a perfect game (I was at that one) is the best example of the “Pedro is a head-hunter” meme, I also enjoyed one post-unintentional-HBP scrum in which Pedro was extensively lectured by a cashing one-last-check Mark Davis. (Perhaps the lecture was titled “how to sign an enormous contract and immediately become the worst closer in baseball.”) [...]

By: mikel123

mikel123 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:43:45 +0000

Jonah, great piece (found it linked from The Book Blog). Any idea if there’s someplace one can purchase that perfect game on DVD? I’m a Boston guy as well; never even knew of Pedro before 1998, but I have heard of the perfect game (even though MLB doesn’t really recognize it as such) and would love to see it.

By: Jonah

Jonah — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:14:51 +0000

Pedro Night Dinners! I love everything about this idea. Great stuff Christian, thanks for sharing that.

By: tixlist

tixlist — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:47:28 +0000

Top shelf Jonah. A quick note from a die-hard Sox fan living in Boston during the Pedro years. My family has been doing “Tues night dinners” for the past 12 years. 7-10 of us would show up at an aunt’s house to eat pasta, drink wine, and catch up weekly, while usually having a sporting event on as background noise. During the Pedro years, from April through Oct, “Tues night dinners” would be changed to “Pedro night dinners,” matching our weekly meetup with Pedro’s weekly dominance. The meeting spot would move from the dining room table to the living room floor, watching in anticipation because you just never knew what kind of treat you were in for. 27K’s? Possible. Perfect game? Possible. Three straight inn’s of changeups? Possible. There was simply nothing like a Pedro start.

By: Jonah

Jonah — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:05:01 +0000

Thanks Felix. Can’t wait to write about “The Nelson Santovenia I Know” and “The Andy McGaffigan I Know”.

By: felix514

felix514 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:08:42 +0000

Another fantastic piece, thank you for the memories Jonah. It’s tough reading about the team we loved so much when most (even in Montreal) are so apathetic. God, does being an Expos fan ever bring up plain sad, nostalgic memories. I’m sure Marcel Proust would’ve been an Expos fan.