What more can I say about our ace Pedro Martinez that the stats Gary Cohen has relayed don't already say for themselves. Pedro told us quite exactly how he was going go pitch and did not stray from it, besides an uncharacteristic number of beans, plunks and walks. But Pedro, a man not known for his pitching, when he can't give us shutout innings, he made up for it with his bat.

However, the story of the night for me was the meat of our order, Beltran and Floyd, finally waking up and catching up with the offensive production of what will be the engine of our team for many years, Wright and Reyes, 2 players who were welcomed at relatively young ages to our crappy old historical stadium and demented fandom and who at this point, we hope never, ever leave. While starting out the season with the 1-2 tap (not a punch) of the Nationals and Marlins may seem like BP compared to what we will face in our more worthy adversaries, the intangibles are what will make the difference this year, and the gel that is keeping this team together is making the succeed.