This makes me happy

Unlike his contemporary Roger Clemens - who is in the midst of damage control after being identified as a steroid user in the Mitchell Report - Mets ace Pedro Martinez says he is most proud of having remained "clean" during baseball's steroid era.

 

"When a report reveals that close to 100 players were using steroids, I thank God that I've always pitched clean," Martinez said in an interview in Spanish with the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario. Martinez was in Santo Domingo Thursday to receive a plaque recognizing his baseball accomplishments, part of an awards ceremony for the Dominican winter baseball season.

 

"Even when I felt pain in my arm, I got on the mound and pitched in that condition. I was a dominant pitcher in the steroids era," said Martinez. "That was a difficult period for pitchers and it makes me happy that all I have done in baseball has been clean. No one can question me."

 

The 36-year-old righthander acknowledged that his ERA is higher now and that his statistics are not what they once were when he was winning Cy Young Awards with the Expos in 1997 and the Red Sox in 1999 and 2000, but that his entire Hall of Fame career is on the level.

 

"I continued my work without trying any of these substances that are available," said Martinez, who has 209 career victories. "No one can question my place in the game."

 

Martinez, who returned from rotator cuff surgery on his pitching shoulder to make five starts in 2007, also said he had planned to try and pitch for the Licey Tigers team this winter in the Dominican, but that the Mets had advised him against doing so. With one season left on his four-year deal with the club and with GM Omar Minaya so far failing to sign a replacement for departed southpaw Tom Glavine, the Mets can ill afford to lose Martinez.

I'm not stupid or naive -- I know this isn't proof of anything, but it's good to hear, and I'm inclined to believe him.