NEW YORK (AP) - Rick Peterson is comfortable discussing everything from art to Fortune 500 companies. Get him talking about baseball, though, and that’s when he really gets going.

Go further, and ask the New York Mets’ pitching coach about his triangle system and get ready for an engaging discourse based on years of honing his craft. Peterson carries the diagram with him in a little black book and can point to a nice track record to illustrate its success.

From Oakland - where he helped make stars out of Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder - to the Mets, Peterson has proven to have a deft touch with prospects, veterans trying to find their way and future Hall of Famers eager to keep going.

"He’s been a big help for me at this stage in my career," said Tom Glavine, the Mets pitcher who is three wins shy of 300 heading into his scheduled start today. "He was very instrumental in helping me make a lot of adjustments in my game. He changed my game quite a bit."

Peterson’s black book is stuffed with business cards and scraps of paper, and the 52-year-old is careful as he thumbs through worn pages of meticulous notes. He stops in the middle to show off a triangle that stretches over two pages.

It has three overarching themes: fundamental skills, physical conditioning, and mental and emotional toughness. Each side stands alone and works in concert. For example, a long-toss drill is a fundamental skill that improves physical conditioning and involves mental and emotional focus because there is a target involved.

"So if you can take an activity with your pitchers that brings all three of these together that they’re united, it’s a three-dimensional activity," Peterson said, "as opposed to a one-dimensional activity. And the hierarchy of the mental and emotional skills is keeping people focused on the process of performing not the outcome of performing."

Peterson is a lot like the triangle: multilayered and complex, way more than just the son of a championship-winning general manager.

Under Peterson’s tutelage, Zito won the Cy Young Award in 2002. And many believe Zito - now with the San Francisco Giants on a $126 million, seven-year contract - hasn’t been the same since Peterson left for the Big Apple.

"He knows a lot about the inside game of baseball and knows as much as anyone about mechanics as well," Zito said.

Peterson became the Mets’ pitching coach in November 2003, joining the team before Art Howe’s second season as manager in New York. Howe was also his boss in Oakland. The team ERA dropped from 4.48 in 2003 to 4.09 in Peterson’s first year.

"He realizes that everyone is different," John Maine said of Peterson, "and you’ve just got to find out the best way to relate to people and he does a good job of that."

Maine was 2-4 with a 6.60 ERA in 11 games over two seasons with the Orioles but has blossomed into a dependable starter for New York, getting off to a 10-5 start this year with a 2.91 ERA after his loss last night.

"I think probably the mental part of it has helped me out a lot," Maine said.

The mental side has always been one of Peterson’s biggest interests. The one-time pitching prospect, who was drafted twice and made it as high as Triple-A, studied psychology, art and philosophy in college in Florida. He refined his craft as a coach while developing White Sox minor leaguers at Double-A Birmingham in the late 1980s.

It was in Alabama that Peterson began working with renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews - who has done extensive work with pitchers - and learning about biomechanics at the American Sports Medicine Institute.

He also was tabbed by former White Sox General Manager Larry Himes to establish a performance-related sports psychology program for Chicago.

"The years with the White Sox totally changed my career," Peterson said. "I was probably a much greater student during that time than I was a teacher by any means, and I would not be able to offer this whole curriculum if I didn’t have that kind of education."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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