5th Starter Wars

(in your best Bill Murray lounge singer voice please)

"Starter wars, nothing, but....starter wars...."

In a battle of craptasticy, no clear frontrunner has emerged as the favorite for the Mets 5th starter position.

As such, I have officially added Pedro Martinez to the list of those battling for the position.

Loyal readers of NY Sports Dog know I've been touting Pedro for months, and ran this piece a few days ago.

So let's take a look at the competition:

Freddy Garcia: Coming back from injury, mixed results now with decreased velocity and very hittable "fat" pitches in his last outing.
Tim Redding: Shut down once already, 4.95 ERA last year including a 6.49 ERA in his last 10 starts, another guy coming back from surgery
Livan Hernandez: Looked good in 2 innings in his first start, and then got bombed. Hernandez, who needed just 18 pitches in two perfect innings against the Cardinals in his spring debut last Friday, allowed three runs in 2-2/3 innings in the Mets' 6-4 loss to the Nationals yesterday. Hernandez was pulled one out shy of his targeted three innings when he walked Kory Casto to load the bases. The final six Nats to face Hernandez reached base. 6.05 ERA last year including a 7.91 ERA in his last 10 starts in 2008.
Jon Niese: Got bombed this week, very much looks like a AAA pitcher at this point
Pedro Martinez: Martinez pitched two innings, his first game work since Sept. 25 with the Mets, and allowed two runs, three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in the Dominican Republic's 6-1 loss to the Orioles yesterday.

So the battle continues....and speaking of battles, there is a terrific on-going prank war going on between a couple of guys from CollegeHumor.com.

The latest installment just might be the best one yet.