3000 Ks for Pedro- not a big deal?

Question

You have a lot of milestones being reached this season. Not just Bonds and his chase of the home run record, but also Frank Thomas and A-Rod approaching 500 HR, Biggio getting his 3000th hit, and Glavine approaching 300 wins.

But it seems like not much of a deal is made, even in New York, of the fact that Pedro Martinez is two Ks away from 3000 strikeouts, which to me seems a pretty big milestone. Why do you think that is? It's not like he's gone for the season.

Answer 1

Honestly, I was not even aware of that. Possibly they have not hyped it because they want to wait until it is more clear as to when he will return and pitch. As of the last reports, it was still unclear when he would pitch, AND, it is already late July.

Answer 2

It's a big deal. 3,000 Ks is not hash, and it will become increasingly difficult to reach as pitch counts become overused. The main reason it isn't mentioned is that Martinez is on the DL, and while he's supposed to be back this year, what if he isn't? Despite the commonality of landmarks, such as 500 HRs and so on, the way to think of them (the writers haven't yet, give them 100 more years!) is that 2001 marks a new century of stats. Let the 21st century get 50 or 60 years old and see just how many milestones are reached. It won't be all that many more than the 20th century, probably, and the milestones will seem less common.

Answer 3

It's a good milestone, but:

a. we need to see Pedro come back (hopefully as iEl Pedro! and not just another pitcher);

b. he's sitting on 2998; there's not much suspense about when he'll get it -- first game if he's on, second game if he gets torched;

c. while 3k K is still an impressive milestone, it's been done, and done often; except for Walter Johnson, every 3000 K pitcher (including the very top gun) has reached the mark since 1974, four of them since 1998, two of those in the past two seasons, and two recent colleagues have surpassed 4000. So while 3000 is a good thing to see happen, we've seen it before, relatively often, and in living memory.

Pedro essentially cannot miss, and Smoltz is charging hard behind him. After them, however, there will be a break -- I don't think Mussina will make it, and Glavine will not.