Pedro Martinez is a Punk (and other sports news)

I've been watching Pedro Martinez pitch since he was with Montreal (yes, there used to be not just a team but a very good team in Montreal) and I've always hated him. He was just obnoxious enough and more than good enough to annoy and opposing fan, and he had a well-deserved reputation for throwing at people's heads. Then when he was with Boston during a brawl he threw a 70 year-old Yankee coach to the ground and it was sealed. My daughter, who grew up a Yankee fan, almost cried when the Phillies signed him.

All that being said, everyone who loves baseball should take some time to appreciate what Pedro is doing with the Phillies this year. Aside from all the punk stuff, he was also always known as having the best pitching smarts this side of Greg Maddux, and to watch him work last night was to see genius. The man is an absolute artist on the mound and some of the pitches he threw were things of beauty (if you like that kind of thing).

Having been a baseball fan since 1962 (!) I have been privileged to see many wonderful things, from Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle to the 2008 Phillies, and I have to add watching Pedro Martinez pitch-by-pitch to my personal highlights.

Over the weekend, I also got to see Serena Williams curse out a lineswoman (multiple f-bombs) at match point and be given a one point penalty to lose the match. I have never seen anything like that in all my years. That woman is an excellent tennis player but she has a way of tainting every loss, almost like she's planning her excuses as she goes. Usually it was just some injury we'd never heard about before ("and I don't want to use this for an excuse, but...) but this was pretty creative. This is not the kind of person you want to play with.