Phils' Martinez looking for more in second start

ATLANTA - The Phillies signed Pedro Martinez as a fifth starter, a complementary piece for their team. But the veteran righthander said that he could be more than a five-inning, back-of-the-rotation pitcher; tonight, he will continue in his effort to prove it.

"People want to say I'm a five-inning pitcher," Martinez said yesterday. "I haven't pitched in the big leagues since last September. I come back, I go to my first rehab outing, it's shortened by rain. One inning. Second rehab outing is five innings, and the third one I go six innings and strike out 11. Looks like I'm coming along pretty good."

Tonight Martinez, 37, will make his first start at Citizens Bank Park as a Phillie, and he hopes to build on a decent beginning last Wednesday at Wrigley Field. In his first major-league start in nearly a year, Martinez allowed seven hits and three runs in five innings, striking out five and walking one.

During a fifth inning that threatened to undermine his happy return, Martinez wiggled out of trouble. He loaded the bases with no one out and his pitch count climbing, but Martinez ended up allowing just two runs in the inning, stranding two runners and lasting long enough to qualify for the win.

That ended his night, after 99 pitches, 64 of which were strikes. Martinez said the long hiatus from pitching left him tired after a few innings.

"Everybody in life, when they're tired, performs worse than they do when they're fresh," Martinez said. "When I'm tired, I perform worse than I do when I'm refreshed, and that was the case as I got later into that game."

Martinez said after Wednesday's game that he felt healthier than at any time since 2001, and he has continued to claim perfect health in the days since. As his stamina builds in subsequent starts, he hopes to become more economical with his pitches and effective in later innings. Ideally, a starting pitcher throws his 99th pitch in or around the seventh inning or later, not the fifth.

Martinez said he expected to pitch deeper into games, though not necessarily complete them.

"Nowadays nobody is going to be completing games like a [Tim] Lincecum or a [Roy] Halladay," Martinez said before noting that Lincecum, the same diminutive height as Martinez at 5-foot-11, was even more slightly built than the Dominican righthander.

"He reminds me a lot of me," Martinez said. "But I feel like a tall man now. When I see Lincecum, I'm a big man now."

Martinez said that the key to reducing his pitch count, in addition to building energy, would be improving his feel for pitches and ability to control them.

"It's command," he said. "You're trying to get through the game with the least amount of pitches, and that's all about commanding your pitches. And it's also about maintaining your energy, like for anyone.

"Write it like that. Everybody in life, when they're tired, performs worse than when they're rested. Write it like that. Not like it's Pedro, it's everybody. Please, get my name off the papers."

Asked if he really wanted his name to vanish from newspapers, Martinez smiled and said, "No. Not really."

Phils sign draft pick. The Phillies have agreed to a deal with highly regarded righthander Brody Colvin. The pitcher slipped to the seventh round because of a commitment to play at LSU. He participated in a workout at Citizens Bank Park last week.