Pedro pitches well in Double-A

Heres the article from philly.com as I did not see the game only highlights.

The rehab tour that Pedro Martinez has been on since signing with the Phillies has taken him from Clearwater to the Lehigh Valley to Lakewood and, last night, to Reading.

It’s been a lot of car rides and hotel restaurants and unfamiliar beds. That could be quite taxing on a 37-year-old pitcher and Martinez admitted he needs some rest. His outing last night for the Reading Phillies at FirstEnergy Stadium just might go a long way toward getting him some stability – as in a spot with the parent club.

Martinez struck out 11 in seven innings, throwing 82 pitches, 60 of them for strikes. He struck out nine of the first 12 hitters he faced and ended the night giving up five hits (four singles and a home run), three earned runs and no walks in what turned into an 8-4 win over the Trenton Thunder. The last six fastballs Martinez threw on the night were in the low 90s.

“Physically I was a little weak, not as strong as I expected to be,” Martinez said. “It’s been a hard week, but that’s OK. It’s part of the game. I got better [as the game went on]. I still have to do a little bit more work.”

Whether that work will be done in Philly or someplace else has yet to be determined. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro and special assistant Charley Kerfeld were seated in the fourth row behind home plate and witnessed Martinez’ mostly dominant performance.

It might be a good idea for Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee to get out to Pattison Avenue after a game and learn how to direct traffic – because there soon could be a huge logjam of starting pitchers on their ballclub.

“After I rest a little bit and settle down, I hope I can do better,” Martinez said. “I just hope I can improve. I thought I improved from the last time. Hopefully now, having a little time back in Philly in my next bullpen session [perhaps tomorrow], I’ll work a little bit better and have more time to work. Just continue to improve and rest a little bit at the same time.”

It appeared Martinez would come out and pitch in the seventh inning, but Reading sent seven batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth in scoring three runs and the long time on the bench for Martinez ended his night, as it did for many of the soldout crowd of 9,953, a record for the 58-year-old park.

He kept Thunder hitters off-balance with a variety of off-speed pitches, while masterfully mixing in fastballs that hovered around 90 mph and got as high as 93.

Martinez was making his third rehab start since being signed by the Phillies and placed on disabled list with a strained shoulder. So far in the three rehab starts, his total numbers are 12 1/3 innings, nine hits, seven earned runs, three walks and 15 strikeouts.

As he warmed up in the rightfield bullpen before the game, many of the Reading pitchers stood behind the three-time Cy Young Award winner, perhaps to get a glimpse of what it takes to get to the big leagues.

When he was done warming up, Martinez wiped his brow, then made his way to the other pitchers, giving knuckles to all before heading to the mound – maybe for the last time in a minor league park.

Asked if he had any words for Amaro after his start, Martinez smiled and said, “I’d tell him thanks for coming.”

Martinez wasn’t the only star on this night, as top prospect Dominic Brown belted a mammoth home run and laced a double.

Brown nailed a 1-0, 89 mph fastball over the Reading Eagle Company sign in rightfield and onto Centre Avenue behind the stadium in his first at-bat. The shot was estimated at 426 feet. In his second plate appearance, he roped an RBI double to right-center.

The 6-5, 210-pound rightfielder, who was in high demand during the trade deadline, is getting used to life in Double A ball after being called up to Reading last Friday.

“It feels great to be up here with a great group of guys,” he said about 90 minutes before last night’s game. “It’s different. The pitchers are great at locating their pitches. They locate and they hit spots. I need to be able to hit the offspeed stuff and I’ll be OK.”

Brown’s name was often mentioned among a package of players it would have taken to land Toronto righthander Roy Halladay. Brown was named the Phillies’ No. 1 prospect before this season by Baseball America.

“I tried not to think about it,” he said of the trade talk. “I want to be a Phillie. It’s nice to be mentioned, I guess, and the guys joked around with me about it. I want to stay humble. I know there’s no guarantees. I do remember watching ESPN and I saw my name [on the crawl]. I would tell my roommate to turn it off because I didn’t want to hear it.”

Phillies fans will probably be hearing his name a lot in the very near future.