Sore shoulder or not, Pedro Martinez ranks fourth in the AL in innings pitched with 50 2/3. Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Pedro Martinez is best seen and not heard. Petey has this annoying habit, whenever he opens his mouth, of coming off either a.) childish, b.) selfish, c.) arrogant, d.) ridiculous or e.) any bad thing and every bad thing in between.

But here's something that the Red Sox maniacal fans seem to forget whenever Petey goes on one of his rants.

Martinez can pitch. Still. With the best of them.

He can pitch as well as he can bitch.

It'd be easy to say "Cut Petey and his big mouth loose!" when his contract runs out after the season, especially if he starts getting punched around like a balloon at Coors Field. But, the fact is, there aren't a whole lot of reasons to think that will happen. It's entirely possible -- maybe even probable -- that Martinez will do this season what he's done throughout his career in Boston.

If he does, general manager Theo Epstein will have some mighty hard choices to make in the offseason. Let Petey and his mouth go to the highest bidder, even if that bidder is in pinstripes? Or pay Petey and put up with everything that comes with him?

Two words of advice: Pay Petey.

It's not as easy as many Boston fans -- fed up with Martinez's "I just want some respect" act -- make it out to be. How can the Red Sox cut loose a pitcher who has averaged almost 17 wins a season in the six years he's been in Boston? How could the Red Sox not keep a guy who has a 2.26 ERA, ridiculously low in this era, over the past six years?

How can the Red Sox not make a strong bid for a pitcher who, even after being injured for most of one year in Beantown (2001), still has averaged more than 194 innings pitched since he came to Boston in 1998?

Yeah, Martinez will be expensive. Early word is he'll be asking for maybe $15 million a year. That's too much ... for anyone.

And, yeah, he'll want a long-term deal, too. Doesn't everyone? No matter what, the Red Sox can't give him more than three years. Four, max, if he meets some performance incentives.

Is he worth a gamble at three years, with maybe an option for a fourth? Is he worth $13 million a year? Is he worth more than the four-year, $51 million contract Bartolo Colon got with the Anaheim Angels last offseason?

Yup. He is. Martinez's stats are undeniable, or they should be to a front office that prides itself on number crunching.

The big rap on Martinez is he's smallish (180 pounds maybe) and his shoulder may be hurt. He misses a few starts a year, plus he's getting old (33 at the end of October). He's lost velocity on his fastball, too, they say, and he's not the strikeout pitcher he once was. And, of course, that mouth is a pain.

But, again, let's not forget this: he can pitch. In his last outing, a 5-3 victory against Cleveland, he struck out 11 in seven innings and scattered five hits. He threw 115 pitches. He retired 15 straight hitters at one point. He was dominating, though he didn't get the decision.

That's Martinez, still. It could be him for many more years.

Most wins after turning 33 Rk Pitcher Wins 1 Phil Niekro* 237 2 Gaylord Perry* 180 3 Charlie Hough 167 4 Tommy John 164 5 Nolan Ryan* 157 6 Joe Niekro 140 7 Steve Carlton* 138 8 Don Sutton* 134 9 Roger Clemens 135 10 Randy Johnson 129 * Hall of Fame

Greg Maddux has won 89 games since turning 33. Jamie Moyer has won 127,  Tom Glavine 83, Dennis Martinez 123. Don Sutton won 134, Mike Cuellar, 120. These guys aren't much bigger than Martinez, and all used guile instead of a fastball, especially late in their careers. That's Martinez, now.

And that's a lot of wins left in Martinez's right arm.

Re-signing Martinez is a decision for the offseason, now that he's famously cut off contract talks during the '04 season. But Epstein and the Boston brass already know this: Unless his arm flames out or something awful befalls him, the Red Sox may find out that they can't afford not to bring Pedro back.

Mouth and all.

Well, onward with the E-Bag, where we delve into, among other subjects, going to the ballpark, the Brewers, the Giants letting down Barry Bonds and the strange case of Andruw Jones.

Read on ...

First, some responses from fans on increased attendance and my contention that fans don't care about anything outside the white lines.

My son and I have attended two games so far this year: Opening Day in Milwaukee and a Cubs game yesterday at Wrigley. Both games had big crowds with a lot of kids and a excitement. There was a buzz in the stadiums. No one was talking about steroids or salaries or off-the-field issues. Nothing about the Expos fiasco, no Bud Selig, no Pete Rose. The game hasn't changed, the abundance of ESPN and talk radio has. The average fan who gets to fewer than five games a year with their kids doesn't care about that other stuff. We like great pitching and home runs. Do you know what we talked about the whole game? The same thing I talked about with my Dad 40 years ago at Yankee Stadium -- what were the chances we could get a foul ball?
 -- John Calderone, Mount Horeb, Wisc.

Nice thoughts, John. Great sentiments. Dang near brought a tear to my jaundiced eye. I remember the first time I walked into Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium to watch a game with my family. The green grass. The beautiful old park. The brim on Brooks Robinson's  helmet. I hope we can keep those memories alive for the next generation. But -- call me a cynic, because the next guy sure does -- I don't think any of us can ignore the problems this game faces. We can't turn our back on, say, the problems of steroids like some millionaire athlete who turns his back on an autograph request. I mean, can we?

	MAILBAG Comments, questions or obviously unfounded criticism? To e-mail Donovan, use the form below. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

John, you've been writing about sports so long you forgot what it's like to be a fan. We're all concerned about steroids ... concerned enough to voice that concern ... but these are our teams. Going to Busch once or twice a week during the summer, drinking a beer, grabbing a dog and enjoying the day/night is just what we fans do, it's our culture.
 -- Scott Burns, St. Louis

To me, Scott, I guess it's like going to the movies. You need to be willing to suspend your belief. If you can forget about all the problems and just watch the game, forget about everything but throw and hit and catch, Major League Baseball can be a beautiful thing. I can do that once in a while. I can forget and just enjoy. But to me, it's getting harder and harder. I don't know. Maybe that's what the beer's for.

As a life-long fan of Fenway Park, I admire the new owners' attempts to fix up the old ballyard. Of course, there is a ton of advertising now, but with that payroll, I'm willing for some visual noise amidst the bandbox beauty of Fenway. But I can not tolerate the incredibly irritating, non-stop music during every non-playing moment of a game recently. What happened to the chance to talk to your son between innings?
 -- Michael Power, Portsmouth, N.H.

I hear you, Michael. You know how loud the speakers are at Shea Stadium? (Of course, they have to be to drown out the planes.) They're loud at Yankee Stadium, too. And I'm sure at a lot of other places. Maybe we don't have to revert to the soothing sounds of some 80-year-old on his Wurlitzer, but c'mon, can't these places tone it down a little?

What will Roger Clemens do next? He will sign a two-year extension for $12 million dollars with a $5 million signing bonus deferred, then retire. After all, he has to pay for his kids' college educations, and the money will come in handy. Lucky him!
 -- James Goodwin, Doylestown, Pa.

I would not be surprised one bit if Clemens decides to go another year. How can he hang up his cleats when he's this good? For sure, he figures to be in the World Cup, if and when that happens in 2005. And after that? He might retire. But the way he's going now, I'm not buying him a going-away gift just yet.

As I speak, the Angels have the best record in baseball, and the Dodgers are tied for second best. Is this finally the year we can possibly look forward to a "Freeway Series?"
 -- Josh, Los Angeles

Could happen, sure. Wouldn't be the worst matchup, either. Both of these teams are legitimate. The Angels have it all, and the Dodgers have plenty to survive in their division. Now, I'm not sure a Southland Series would have the pizzazz of a Subway Series. But these teams could draw, between them, maybe 6 million fans this season. There'd be plenty of buzz.

Who do you think has had the best single season by a pitcher since 1950? My pick would be Ron Guidry's '78 season followed closely by Bob Gibson's 1.12 era in '68, Vida Blue in '71 and Roger Clemens in '86.
 -- Matt Langdon, Birmingham, Ala.

Well, that's a question for my handy-dandy Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia. I've selected, since 1950 on, the only seasons with 20-plus wins, an ERA under 2.00, 250-plus innings pitched and 250-plus strikeouts. Blue in '71 and Gibson in '68 qualify. I've shown you what Clemens ('86) and Guidry ('78) did, too, in the years you mentioned. Both those guys fell just short of my strikeout qualifications those years. My pick? I don't know, but Koufax looked awfully tough in '63.

With a one-hour, six-minute inning, ERAs above 4.00 and 5.00 in half of the league, walking Barry Bonds every time he gets an at-bat (almost), are too many people worried about high scores bringing fans back to ballparks or are good, old-fashioned pitching duels out of date? Pitching is where the game starts and ends.
 -- Justin Soward, Houston

Pitching duels are not completely out of date. Watch the showdown between two lefties, Arizona's Randy Johnson and the Mets' Tom Glavine, in a 1-0 New York win on Wednesday night. Man, that was a heck of a game. Better than a 15-10 slugfest any day.

The Brewers weren't mentioned for contraction because at that time their stadium was just opened. The market, while being the 42nd biggest in the country, is big enough to support baseball if it had a competitive product. Milwaukee has plenty of fans who love baseball. They are just sick of seeing a junk product on the field.
 -- Chris Jones, Milwaukee

Chris, I'm sure that the fans in Milwaukee are great, and they'd support a decent team. But there are just not enough of them. It's that simple. A franchise needs a big enough fan base to support the team in good times and bad. The numbers just aren't there in Milwaukee. But the stadium is, so the Brewers are safe.

You talked about how the Rangers didn't have any pitching to go with their hitters (true) and didn't think they could contend. But didn't the Braves win their division last year with the same formula?
 -- James, Windsor, Ontario

True, James, true. (I need a kickback from Anheuser Busch for that.) Teams can win like that. And the Braves did it in a pretty tough division last year. But not as tough as that AL West.

On the subject of Bonds -- the people who keep suggesting rules changes to get him more at-bats seem to be missing a pretty obvious point. This is a mess of the Giants' making, not the pitchers or managers of the opposing teams. If the Giants had landed Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Guillen, Miguel Tejada or Gary Sheffield in the offseason we wouldn't be seeing all these walks.
 -- Ken Brown, Yucaipa, Calif.

Ken, you said it all. I disagree with one point: I'm not sure the Giants are mismanaged. I believe Bonds' contract and the unique financial set-up the Giants have with their ballpark messes up everything. Maybe that's a line from the San Francisco management, but I believe it. Whatever, the fact is they're a one-man gang right now. And one man is never enough in baseball. Even that man.

I still like to think of Andruw Jones as the wunderkind 19-year-old banging out two home runs in the World Series and thrilling everyone day after day with his defense. Yet, here he is, at age 27, and I am absolutely dumbfounded by his backslide since 2000, when he hit .303 and had a .907 OPS. He has, more often than not, looked utterly lost at the plate this year and worse still, just doesn't seem to care about improving.
 -- Wilson Ruark, Atlanta

Jones is almost a guaranteed 30 homers and 95 RBIs. But, Wilson, you're right. There's not a more frustrating player in baseball than Jones. Strikes out waaaay too much (never fewer than 100 in a season). Looks bad doing it. Been a sucker for breaking stuff down and out. Never looks in shape at the beginning of the season. And, yeah, he always seems to have that smirk on his face. I wouldn't make too much of that last part. He cares. But maybe he should pump up the care another notch or two. And listen to Terry Pendleton more.

The other day I saw you give some hope to a long-suffering Mets fan. Any chance you could do the same for a long-suffering Pirates fan?
 -- G. A. Deimel, Pittsburgh

I said the Mets might be a .500 team by year's end. I don't think I said which year. Hope for the Bucs? Yeah. Sure. Some year.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.