Mets pitching in to make ace comfy

03/08/2006
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Here's the latest dirt on Pedro Martinez and his tortured toe.
Perceived as the difference between the Mets winning a World Series championship in 2006 and not, Martinez stood on an auxiliary pitcher's mound at the club's Spring Training complex, dragging his spikes across the area in front of the rubber as 10 a.m. ET Wednesday came and went.
By 11, a force far greater than even the purposefully pawing Martinez was in the same location, doing the same work, tilling the baked clay that had made the mound harder than hitting Tom Seaver in twilight.
The Mets may not move heaven and earth to satisfy Martinez. But they will move earth and do so with a sense or urgency.
No sooner had Martinez disappeared into the clubhouse than a crew of five groundskeepers attacked with shovels, rakes and implements of destruction in an effort to make life easier for the ace's persnickety piggy.
It was another part of what was a pretty good day for the pitcher who still hasn't abandoned hope of being on Shea Stadium's presumably softer mound April 3 when the games count.
One day after Willie Randolph suggested Martinez needed to "speed up his progress," the pitcher did. New York's ace produced positives and smiles. Neither had been in abundance on Monday, the previous time he threw. He called his Wednesday "a very progressive day" and said "I'm still on track" as far as Opening Day. And he acknowledged Tom Glavine's need to know if the schedule changes.
After a few minutes of catch, Martinez threw 62 pitches from the granite-like bump -- and he did so without gelliin'. No gel packs were in his right shoe. The location of his pitches was more precise.
"I flipped a couple of changeups," he said. "Maybe [I will throw] breaking balls next time."
A batting practice session remains unscheduled and pitching in a game comes after that. But after not throwing from a mound Monday and increasing his workload Wednesday, it was easier to the Mets to feel encouraged -- or less discouraged.
Martinez walked off saying, "No panic, no panic" after providing an update.
He had removed the pads before he threw so he could gain a greater sense of how his violent foot twisting and dragging affects his large right toe.
"I know where I'm hitting now," he said. Recalling the pain caused, he admonished himself: "I should not take the gel pads off."
But he said he had done so and also increased his workload not because of urgency but because he felt better -- apositive development for sure.
The mound he had thrown from is one of six that are connected. Each was equally hard as the crew discovered after the rubbers were removed and the larger tiller began its work. The mounds were watered before the process began, but the water was hardly absorbed. Florida sun bakes the clay, and small burrs that appear and feel like stones are formed.
Maybe it won't be so hard for him the next time.

Source: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/