Martínez undergoes rotator cuff surgery

NEW YORK -- Former Red Sox doctor Bill Morgan was present as an observer when pitcher Pedro Martínez underwent surgery yesterday to repair a torn rotator cuff. Mets doctors David Altchek and Struan Coleman repaired the supraspinatus tendon in an operation Mets general manager Omar Minaya termed a success, Minaya predicting Martínez will be pitching by the second half of 2007.

It was Morgan, when Martínez first learned he had a partial tear of his rotator cuff in 2001, who advised against surgery, a recommendation supported by Dr. Lewis Yocum when Martínez sought a second opinion. Instead, under the supervision of former Sox physical therapist Chris Correnti, Martínez embarked on a program to strengthen the muscles in his shoulder around the tear. Martínez rebounded the following season to win 20 games, defying those who thought he'd never be the same and rewarding his faith in the Sox medical team.

But after averaging 15 wins over the next three seasons, including his last two with the Red Sox, and signing a four-year, $53 million contract with the Mets, Martínez broke down physically this season, sidelined by toe, hip, and calf injuries, before an MRI revealed the torn cuff. The three-time Cy Young Award winner was just 9-8 with a 4.48 ERA in 23 starts, only 2-5 with a 8.74 ERA in his last eight starts, a stretch that began with him allowing eight runs (six earned) in three innings in his first appearance at Fenway Park since leaving as a free agent.

Martínez turns 35 Oct. 25. He has pitched 2,645 2/3 innings in a big league career that began with a September call-up to the Dodgers in 1992. Yocum, who performed rotator cuff surgery on Martinez's older brother, Ramon, has told Pedro in the past that his shoulder was much like his brother's. Ramon Martínez, who was 30 when he had reconstructive surgery in 1998, subsequently signed with the Red Sox and appeared in just four games in 1999 before recovering sufficiently to make 27 starts for the Sox in 2000, going 10-8. A year later, he was out of baseball.

Coleman, a 1988 Harvard graduate and member of the school's varsity heavyweight crew, has made rotator cuff injuries his primary area of research. Morgan, meanwhile, who was dismissed by the Red Sox two years ago, has opened a new orthopedic practice at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester .

Minaya said he expected Martínez to be around for home playoff games. ``He told me he hoped to be around the club," Minaya said.

It took Dodgers manager Grady Little just one playoff game to be second-guessed for a pitching decision. Little was taking heat for using starting pitcher Brad Penny in relief in Game 1 against the Mets . Penny made just one relief appearance this season and back problems made him questionable to make a start (he's penciled in for Game 4). Penny entered in the seventh inning of a 4-all tie and gave up two runs, walking two. Little would have preferred to use lefthander Joe Beimel, but he was back in Los Angeles after cutting his left hand, an injury that required 10 stitches and plastic surgery, according to the club. Beimel, who had been the team's only lefty in the pen, is not expected back for a week to 10 days, and the Los Angeles Times has witnesses that say Beimel cut his hand dropping a glass container in a bar, and not on a glass in his hotel bathroom, as he told the club . . . Nomar Garciaparra left in the sixth inning of the Dodgers' 4-1 loss after reinjuring his left quadriceps beating out an infield hit. His status for tomorrow's Game 3 was uncertain. ``You try to give it that little extra," he said. ``I felt it pull." . . . St. Louis, which beat San Diego, 2-0, yesterday in Game 2 of their Division Series, hadn't blanked a playoff opponent since finishing the 1987 NL Championship Series with shutout wins against San Francisco in Games 6 and 7 . . . The Padres' Trevor Hoffman, baseball's all-time saves leader, caught the ceremonial first pitch from the man he passed in the record book, Lee Smith.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.