“Wow” proclaimed Ramon Castro, Pedro Martinez’s batterymate, in response to Martinez’s performance in the Mets’ recent spring win against the Tigers.

At 36, following last years late return from a rotary cuff surgery, Martinez is happy when he doesn’t have to ice his arm after a game. Of course it also helps to stick it to your opponent while feeling good. He pitched four shutout innings. He allowed four hits and struck out four. And in the end, the Mets beat the Tigers 7-4.

His pitching velocity is much stronger than in the past. But Adam Ruibin of the Daily News notes:

“Martinez has been frustrated by preoccupation with his fastball velocity, consistently noting that pitching is the art of location and changing speeds . . . But even Castro . . . was compelled to mention the extra life. It was especially evident in a bases-loaded strikeout of Ramon Santiago . . . Martinez then retired Freddy Guzman on a tapper to first base to end that threat unscathed.”

Who knows. Maybe his training stunt of pitching with his eyes shut paid off. I don’t know, but you can’t argue with results.

This may be a beautiful season for a star veteran with a little more heat in his arm. We may all need to buy our Mets tickets quick to see it for ourselves.

Carlos Beltran’s got a welt on his arm due to a wild pitch by Johan Santana. According to a recent blog by Bart Hubbuch:

“Randolph said Beltran was among several veteran hitters who - upset at having to face young pitchers eager to out-duel them in mere BP - asked to go instead against an older pitcher unafraid to throw strikes.”

Thinking he was going up against one of the most controlled pitchers in the league, you can imagine Beltran’s surprise at getting nailed.

According to John Harper, the pitcher to watch this season is John Maine. He believes that the Mets may well have the deepest and most dominant rotation in the National League. When you put together Pedro Martinez, Santana, Oliver Perez, Orlando Hernandez, and Maine, you’ve got a pretty great line-up. Maine had a great year last season, where Harper claims that “there were more that a few days when Maine looked like on the best pitchers in baseball.”

With all of the depth and possibilities available for this World Series caliber team, there’s a lot of optimism going around. Both Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, two new editions the NY team report missing their friends in their old club, but excited about the possibilities with such a winning line-up.

“You look around this clubhouse and you see MVP candidates, All-Stars, Cy Youngs,” Schneider says. There are a lot of good reasons to buy Mets tickets this year.