Pedro Would Like To Pitch, Retire With Boston

Pedro Martinez talks to Joe Bescia of the New York Times:

If a major league team called, how soon could you be ready to pitch in a game?

I'm in shape right now and I'm training and I'm playing catch, so getting to full strength would probably take me a month, month and a half, to be on a mound. ...

If the Yankees, the Phillies and the Red Sox called you to pitch and offered the same salary, which team would you sign with?

I'd probably have to say the Red Sox. I would like to win a World Series in the National League, so the Phillies are in there, too. But for the time I'm going to be playing, I think Boston is more suitable so that I can retire with the Boston Red Sox and go to the Hall of Fame with the same hat.

Who will win the National and American League pennants and the World Series this year?

I believe if the pitching staff stays healthy, I'd pick the Phillies to win the World Series and National League. In the American League, I'd probably have to go with the Red Sox. They're loaded. They have pitching, they have everything, so I think they're due.

Damn it, we are due!

With the way the staff has pitched over the last week, a 39-year-old Pedro -- who last pitched in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series -- doesn't seem like that bad of a fill-in option. If someone gilloolys John Lackey's knee, maybe we can find out.

Inside The Numbers (To A Likely Annoying Degree):

Pedro was also asked which hitter gave him the most trouble:

Edgar Martinez. He'd foul off so many pitches! He'd foul off 11 or 12 before you'd get him out or he'd get the hit. He had my pitch count really high.

Edgar Martinez faced Pedro 33 times. He was 3-for-25 (all singles, no RBI), with seven walks (.120/.333/.120) and 11 strikeouts. If Edgar was a tough batter to face, it did not show up in the results.

Even without looking at the list of all 33 plate appearances (and especially since I'm bringing this up), you likely already know that Martinez never actually fouled off 11 or 12 pitches against Pedro.

His longest AB against Pedro lasted a total of 10 pitches. That happened once, on April 11, 1998, in the first game he ever faced him. Edgar also had one 9-pitch AB, one 8-pitch AB, and one 7-pitch AB. The most common number of pitches seen was four (10 times) and six (8 times). Pedro threw four or fewer pitches in 19 of his 33 PA (58%).

Edgar twice hit four consecutive foul balls off Pedro. In total, Edgar fouled off only 30 of the 150 pitches he saw against Pedro. In nearly half of his PAs (16 of 33), he did not hit any foul balls.