John Maine Situation Leaves Rotation A Mess

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: John Maine #33 of the New...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The mystery injury to John Maine last night leaves the Mets starting rotation in a bigger mess than we thought it was already. And it couldn’t come at a worse time for Jerry Manuel. Many of us already have a death watch on his managerial career. Of course, injuries aren’t his fault but he needs some good things to happen soon.

R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi are already in the rotation. That’s something we never would have thought before the season. With Maine appearing to be out for some period of time, we might be looking at another call-up from Triple-A Buffalo. Fortunately, Pat Misch and Dillon Gee have been pitching pretty well. But at this rate there won’t be anybody left in Buffalo.

To be left with Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey before the end of May is just a nightmare. I think with Jon Niese injured and Maine possibly hurt, we may need to re-visit the issue of the Mets medical and training staff. It doesn’t seem possible that this many players could be hurt within two seasons. The Mets chose not to change the medical and training staff after the 2009 “season of the injury” and we may be headed down that road again.

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Mets 10 – Nationals 7 May 20, 2010

New York Mets starting pitcher John Maine delivers a pitch to the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets finally got some offense for a change but the game started with a bizarre episode involving John Maine. He threw 5 pitches to the first batter and got pulled from the game. His fastball was at 85 mph and it looked like something was wrong. He and Jerry Manuel argued in the dugout. Maine appeared to have wanted to stay in the game.

Raul Valdes was warming up right from the start of the game. So the Mets knew something was wrong with Maine. Valdes did an unbelievable job going 5 innings and giving up 3 runs. You can’t ask for a better long relief job than Valdes did tonight. I was really impressed.

On offense the Mets put up 15 hits and only had 3 strikeouts. Talk about a turnaround! Jason Bay and Ike Davis both had 3 hits and Rod Barajas had a home run, his 10th of the season. David Wright even got in on the act with a bases clearing double in the first inning.

The Mets head home to face the Yankees this weekend.

Box score

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Preview: Mets at Nationals May 20, 2010

New York Mets (19-22) at Washington Nationals (21-20)  7:05 pm

John Maine (1-3 6.13) vs Luis Atilano (3-0 3.90)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The Mets try to avoid the short series sweep tonight behind Maine. He got destroyed in his last start in Florida and is 0-2 with a 8.53 ERA in road games this season. Atilano got a win against the Mets on May 10 throwing 5.1 shutout innings.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Facebook page during the game to chat with other Mets fans! Connect with The Mets Report on Twitter too.

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Nationals 5 – Mets 3 May 19, 2010

Mets hitter Pagan celebrates his home run against the Nationals during the fourth inning of their MLB National League game in Washington

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets got a quality start from knuckleballer R.A. Dickey who went 6 IP and gave up 2 ER’s. He did pretty well for himself throwing 96 pitches and looked like he could have gone further in the game. The bullpen couldn’t hold on with Raul Valdes and the tired Fernando Nieve giving up 3 runs between them.

The offense was pretty weak again with the Mets only getting 5 hits as a team. One was an inside the park home run by Angel Pagan.

Pagan seems to be one of the only guys going out to make plays on a daily basis. He also started a triple play in the fifth. It was partially due to some poor work by the umpires. They were slow to make a call on whether Pagan caught a shoestring catch and that left the base runners hanging.

The Mets look pretty lifeless and feels more and more like watching the 2009 Mets.

Box score

Preview: Mets at Nationals May 19, 2010

New York Mets (19-21) at Washington Nationals (20-20)  7:05 pm

R.A. Dickey (0-0 -.–) vs Livan Hernandez (4-2 1.46)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: Dickey makes his big league season debut after pitching really well at Buffalo. He was 4-2 with a 2.23 ERA including 2 complete games and a 1.04 WHIP. You can’t do much better than that. Hernandez is pitching better than we’ve seen from him in years. He beat the Mets on April 11 throwing 7 shutout innings.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Facebook page during the game to chat with other Mets fans! Connect with The Mets Report on Twitter too.

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Mets Starting Pitching Options – Niese and Perez

MLB: Mets vs Rockies APR 14

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets lost two of their starting pitchers in Florida, Jon Niese due to a hamstring injury, and Oliver Perez due to being dreadful.

Hisanori Takahashi will start in Jon Niese’s place on Friday night, while R.A. Dickey will start in Perez’s place tonight against the Washington Nationals.

Takahashi has seemed to relish in the long man spot, a la Darren Oliver in 2006 for the Mets, and he should be kept there as he’s been extremely valuable in that spot. R.A. Dickey, who started 14 games in 2008 for the Seattle Mariners, went 5-8 with a 5.21 ERA. Continue reading “Mets Starting Pitching Options – Niese and Perez”