He hasn't been consistently bad, but he hasn't been particularly good. Taking Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Braves into account, Martinez has lost more games than he's won. Equally as important, he has proven no ability to dominate games. By contrast, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez have shown such flashes -- even if only for inconsistent spurts.
"Pedro has been very good at times," Manuel said, acknowledging the dilemma. "But those guys have been dominant at times."
So in a must-win game, Manuel might lean toward Pelfrey and Perez. He wouldn't say just yet, and he certainly didn't have to. Saturday's game against the Braves at Turner Field was not a must-win -- especially considering that the Brewers, who are second in the National League Wild Card standings, lost earlier in the day -- and so Martinez's performance was not quite critical. Nor was it remarkable. In six innings, he allowed four runs, striking out seven but allowing nine hits, as the Mets dropped back into second place behind the Phillies in the NL East. The Mets now lead the Brewers in the Wild Card race by 2 1/2 games.
"I'm not pleased," Martinez said, "because we didn't win the game."
Saturday's problem was not new. Martinez allowed runs in the first inning for his second straight outing, and this time, his team never recovered. In that inning alone, a single, a walk, a double and two more singles combined to give the Braves three runs. And that's become a trend. From his first through his 15th pitch of every game this season, Martinez has produced a 9.95 ERA.
"It makes you wonder," he said. "It makes you start thinking, and I think that's what happened to me."
Martinez's thinking on this night made him believe that he was not being properly aggressive. Sporting increasing velocity as the night wore on, the right-hander relied chiefly on breaking pitches throughout the first inning, and the Braves simply waited for some fat ones.
After that, Martinez transformed into the player that the Mets needed him to be. He still pitched into trouble, but also managed to pitch out of it. With a man on second base in the second inning, Martinez struck out Kelly Johnson to end the threat. With two on in the third inning, he induced Jeff Francoeur's foul pop and then fanned Brandon Jones.
Only in the sixth did Martinez allow another run, on a sequence that wasn't entirely his fault. Martinez walked Jones with one out, then watched as Brian Schneider appeared to gun the Braves outfielder out on an attempted steal of second base.
"He was out," Schneider said.
He was safe, umpire Bill Hohn ruled.
Video replays seemed to agree with Schneider, but that much hardly mattered. The next batter, Josh Anderson, lined a single into right field, scoring Jones from second.
"And we all know, 3-2 is a little different than 4-2," Schneider said.
Such a difference loomed even larger, considering that the Mets, six days after knocking Jorge Campillo out of a game at Shea Stadium in the fourth inning, could muster next to nothing off the rejuvenated Braves starter. Only Martinez touched him for those two runs, scoring Carlos Beltran and Schneider on a two-out double in the fifth.
In the end, that was nothing more than an empty consolation. The Mets needed something more, and the regular offensive contributors could not provide it. So Martinez lost his third straight game, and perhaps whatever inside track he might have had for a spot in the playoff rotation. Even he admitted that much.
"You've got to go with the hot hand," he said.
Perhaps it's another consolation, however, that Martinez could discuss that scenario. The Brewers lost again Saturday, and they -- not the Phillies, who won -- currently have the greatest influence on the Mets' postseason chances. Yet if the Mets can finish ahead of the Phillies in the division -- and they're now behind by half a game -- they'll make the playoffs.
To that end, the September tradition of huddling around clubhouse televisions continued after Saturday's game at Turner Field. A small trio of Mets -- David Wright, Ramon Castro and Argenis Reyes -- watched the Phillies play their game in Miami, scattering after the Marlins' eighth-inning rally stalled.
By the ninth inning, a dozen or so Mets had reconvened around four separate televisions, hanging on every pitch.
Manuel walked through the room at one point and took note of the crowd.
"What you all watching?" he said. "Football?"
Then he noticed the Phillies and laughed.
And Manuel could laugh, because there's a good chance the postseason will come to New York. At that point, the Mets' manager will have some difficult decisions to make -- whether or not to put John Maine on the roster, for example. Or whether or not to keep Martinez in the rotation.
There will be one more regular-season start for Martinez, and one more opportunity for him to prove his postseason worth. And although he'd certainly like to do better, perhaps Saturday night's audition was not as bad as the loss made it seem.
"What you hope for the most part is that a guy gives you a chance to win," Manuel said. "And I thought we had a shot tonight."
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