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 Already coming off two injury-plagued seasons, Martinez limped with a strained left hamstring in the fourth inning, after just 57 pitches.
Martinez, who was not available for comment, will back to New York on Wednesday for an MRI exam. Manager Willie Randlolph said the team would make a quick decision if it needed to fill Martinez's roster spot.
The Mets bullpen more than picked up the slack in Martinez's absence, until Andino
-- who had just six extra-base hits in his first 81 major league at-bats -- homered to left field off Matt Wise (0-1), the sixth Mets pitcher.
The Marlins went even deeper into their bullpen, with six relievers combining for seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball.
Justin Miller (1-0) allowed Brian Schneider's third hit of the game in the 10th, but retired Endy Chavez and Jose Reyes on flyouts to strand him there.
Angel Pagan had two RBIs for the Mets. Dan Uggla and Luis Gonzalez each hit their first home run of the year for Florida.
Martinez hit Hanley Ramirez on the left elbow to open the game, and Uggla followed with a two-run homer. The lead swelled to 4-0 in the second after Gonzalez hit a leadoff homer and Ramirez's triple to center drove Alfredo Amezaga home easily.
But the real trouble for Martinez arrived without warning in the fourth.
He retired Matt Treanor on a groundout and was clearly in discomfort after the pitch, grabbing both his midsection and lower back region. Randolph and team medical officials rushed to the mound, talked momentarily with Martinez, then shuffled with him back to the dugout.
Martinez, entering the final season of a $53 million, four-year contract, went on the disabled list twice in 2006 with right hip inflammation and a strained right calf. That September, he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, had surgery and didn't pitch in the majors for nearly 11 months.
But he went 3-1 in five starts late last season and was problem-free this spring
-- giving the Mets hope that Johan Santana and Martinez would be powerful 1-2 punch atop their rotation.
Now, that's in question.
Randolph talked at length before the game about how he wasn't going to handle Martinez delicately this season, a much different approach than what New York used last year when the three-time Cy Young Award winner returned for the pennant chase.
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"He's had a great offseason, he feels great, and so we're hopefully going to treat him the way we treat everybody else, within reason," Randolph said about two hours before Martinez's start.
That approach almost certainly won't last.
Martinez's best work Tuesday might have come at the plate. He worked a 12-pitch at-bat against Marlins starter Rick VandenHurk in the second, with the crowd getting louder every time the pitcher
-- a career .094 hitter entering the night -- fouled one off to the backstop screen.
Martinez eventually struck out swinging to end the inning, but by then, VandenHurk had already thrown 55 pitches.
VandenHurk left after each of the three Mets batters he faced in the fourth all singled, and each of those eventually scored. Pagan's RBI single
-- on VandenHurk's 76th and final pitch -- drove in the first run.
Schneider greeted Renyel Pinto with a run-scoring single, and Jose Reyes' sacrifice fly drew the Mets to 4-3. One inning later, Pagan's sacrifice fly brought home David Wright, tying the game.
Notes: It was the 44th time Martinez has allowed at least two home runs in a game, but the first time he ever yielded one in both the first and second innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Ramirez, who, like Martinez, hails from that nation. ... Ramirez is now 2-for-12 against Martinez, with a double and a triple.
[Associated Press; By TIM REYNOLDS]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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