Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez hit an important personal milestone on this date in 2006 during his second season with the Mets.

The Mets were taking on the Braves at Shea Stadium with right-hander Jorge Sosa starting for Atlanta. Mets right fielder Xavier Nady tied the game at 1-1 with a solo homer in the bottom of the second inning. First baseman Carlos Delgado hit a two-run shot in the third inning to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. Nady  was back at in the fourth when his RBI single stretched the lead to 4-2, and that’s all Pedro would need.

Pedro went 6 2/3 innings in the game, allowing three runs on six hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts. Right-handed reliever Duaner Sanchez followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings and closer Billy Wagner locked down the win with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth.

Pedro received a standing ovation when he came off the mound in what turned out to be his 200th career victory in the Major Leagues.

Martinez had a strong first half in 2006, posting a 3.45 ERA and 111 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings. Unfortunately for the Mets, Pedro was plagued by injuries over the final months of the season and missed the playoffs.

Though Pedro was terrific in 2005 with the Mets (7.0 WAR) and the start of the 2006 season, he was never the same after the injuries (of course being told to pitch through injuries by Jeff Wilpon didn’t help). A torn rotator cuff limited him to just 28 innings in 2007 and then had a career-worst 5.61 ERA in 2008.

Pedro did hit another milestone in his time with the Mets, when he struck out his 3,000th batter in September of 2007.

On April 17, 2009, another milestone was hit by a Mets player. Outfielder Gary Sheffield had been released by the Tigers at the end of March and the Mets scooped him up within a week. Sheffield entered as a pinch hitter against the Brewers with the Mets down 4-3 in the seventh inning, he hit a laser blast to left field to become the 25th player in Major League Baseball history to hit the 500th home run milestone.

Sheffield, 40 years old at the time, had a solid season at this dish for the Mets. He hit .276/.372/.451 with 13 doubles, 10 home runs, and 34 RBIs in 312 plate appearances during the 2009 season.

That would be the final season for Sheffield and he finished his career with 509 home runs, currently ranking 26th in baseball history.