Category: Pitching

John Maine Rotation Spot Safe, For Now

John Maine has maintained his spot in the starting rotation despite two terrible starts to begin the 2010 season. His spot may not be secure for long.

Image courtesy of Edorf81 via Flickr

After John Maine’s 3 IP 8 ER blow up last night in Denver, there were some legitimate questions about whether he would stay in the rotation. Those questions were answered today by Jerry Manuel. Maine will remain in the rotation for now.

The beat reporters are all writing about Maine’s lengthy conversation with Manuel this afternoon in Colorado. And I think there is something admirable about sticking with your guys. I’m sure the rest of the players on the roster are happy about Maine not getting the boot so quickly. Continue reading “John Maine Rotation Spot Safe, For Now”

Mets’ Maine May Lose Rotation Spot

NEW YORK - JULY 10: Manager Jerry Manual #53 ...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Mets have to think long and hard about pulling John Maine from the rotation. But he’s had two awful starts to begin the 2010 season. And what has he done recently that he deserves any more of a chance than that? The Mets can’t allow him to put up stinker after stinker. Where’s the fast start that Jerry Manuel’s been telling us about? Maine is killing that fast start.

You may recall that I recommended that the Mets non-tender Maine last October. Clearly, that’s looking like the right move in hindsight. But that’s neither here nor there at this point.

Despite getting bombed for 3 runs in 0.1 IP last night, Fernando Nieve should take over the spot. He can lengthen out after working out of the bullpen. He was fighting Jon Niese for the last spot in the rotation three weeks ago. So it won’t take him long to be ready. It’s a no-brainer to me. Continue reading “Mets’ Maine May Lose Rotation Spot”

Mets 2010 Slow Start – Nats Swat Back!

New York Mets starting pitcher Oliver Perez reacts at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsSo after tearing into the Nationals on Friday night, winning by a score of 8-2, I was starting to feel upbeat. Maybe a few games against the Nats is just what this team needs to get some kind of momentum going before going on a tough, short, road trip.

Instead on Saturday, in comes Old Ollie who still resembles 2009 Ollie. No “New”, no “Improved”, just plain old Oliver Perez. Typical 4 runs in 5.2 innings and he was up there at 101 pitches before being pulled. This has been the same formula that has killed this team for the past few years. Get 5 innings from your starter and kill your bullpen. On the bright side the bullpen has performed well. How long will that last?

But that’s all okay. That’s why Jerry/Omar shuffled the rotation, to have Johan Santana follow Ollie.  Oh, they’ll swear it’s because the pitching match-ups are better but who better to follow Ollie than Santana. In theory, we would forget about Ollie’s poor performance after getting another outstanding outing from Santana.

Well, we watched that theory blow up today. Even Santana has bad days and after a 1st inning grand slam we are left to wonder, can this team ever win a series this year? Can this team beat the Nats? Can this team stay out of last? Continue reading “Mets 2010 Slow Start – Nats Swat Back!”

Mets’ Mike Pelfrey Lick Count

New York Mets starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey and catcher Brian Schneider in the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js54 licks through 6 innings

I don’t know if that “Lick Count” is entirely accurate but it’s a new statistic we should be working on to see what percentage of licks works best in certain situations and maybe have the struggling starters implement the lick schedule.

But seriously – We’ve now seen 4 of the 5 starters and Oliver Perez goes today. Since this team’s success is going to rely on how well the starterrs pitch I’ve been watching them closely this week. As expected, a good outing by Johan Santana.

Good outings by Jon Niese and Mike Pelfrey have eased my nerves a little. The bad outing by John Maine definitely worries me as, from what I’m hearing, he might not ever find his true form. Continue reading “Mets’ Mike Pelfrey Lick Count”

Mets 2010 Opening Day Preview of Offense

The New York Mets Jason Bay at Citi Field in New York

When the Mets put up 9 hits and 7 runs on Josh Johnson and the Marlins on opening day, I wasn’t really surprised. This is a team that can hit. Even the injury depleted 2009 team led the league with a .270 average. And the addition of Jason Bay makes this a much better offensive team.

Many of us were surprised that the Mets didn’t do anything to improve the pitching staff during the offseason. That includes me. I didn’t think the Mets would go crazy and sign John Lackey, but I did think they would bring in someone consistent like Jon Garland. When Randy Wolf got his ridiculous 3-year/$29.75 million deal, I knew the Mets wouldn’t be in the market for a pitcher with any kind of track record of success.

I had an email exchange with my friend, and frequent commenter, TD about this during the game on Monday. From TD:

I have no worries about them beating the ball to a pulp.  That’s a nice offense, even with Reyes and Beltran out.

Shoot, I don’t think they’ll even miss Beltran. If you set up the lineup properly, Even Matthews JR can be an above average good hitter.  He’ll see a lot of fastballs!

Continue reading “Mets 2010 Opening Day Preview of Offense”

Mets Spring Training News: Reyes, Murphy, Jacobs

Today was my second day at Digital Domain Park and there was a ton of news today:

  • Jose Reyes will start the season on the disabled list
  • Daniel Murphy will start the season on the disabled list with a sprained knee
  • Mike Jacobs will make the team and probably start at first base on opening day
  • Chris Carter and Frank Catalonotto are vying for the final roster spot
  • The Mets are setting up the rotation to be Johan Santana, John Maine, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey, and Oliver Perez

That’s a lot to digest. While you’re doing that, I’ll tell you about my day today. I started out watching the morning work out and checking out the player’s cars being shipped back to New York. I got some great pictures of the work out that you can see in the slide show below.

Continue reading “Mets Spring Training News: Reyes, Murphy, Jacobs”

Oliver Perez at Digital Domain Park Today

Mets Spring Training - Oliver Perez
Image by wallyg via Flickr

It’s still strange to write Digital Domain instead of Tradition Field. But I’ll be there for today’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals with Oliver Perez on the mound. There’s no denying that Perez is one of the keys to the Mets’ success in 2010. So I can’t wait to get a first-hand look at him this year.

I also read a tweet from David Lennon that Johan Santana is throwing his tune-up for opening day against the minor leaguers today. I’ll have to see if I can find him on one of the side fields.

I’ll try to post some images and posts from my phone while I’m there.

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