Mets 7 Marlins 2

The Mets and John Maine had a great game last night. Carlos Delgado finally showed the power that the Mets are paying $14M/year for. I was really starting to wonder if he was injured and not telling anyone.

The story of the game for me was Maine. He had a nice game after three sub par starts.  I do like the way he pitches but there are two things about him that are unusual. One, he pitches high in the strike zone consistently. Two, he doesn’t have an overpowering fastball and doesn’t have any other great pitches to go along with it.

Whatever he’s doing, it’s working. I think his success is predicated on if the umpire is calling the vertical strike zone. If the umpire is “old school” and won’t call a strike above the belt, Maine will be in trouble.

Maine seems to lose focus occasionally during the game, but doesn’t get rattled when he’s in trouble. I believe he’ll have long term success as a starter despite his unusual propensity to throw high strikes.

It’s been a long time…

I haven’t written anything in quite a while. It’s time to get back to business on this site. It’s hard to criticize this team. The Mets have the best record in the NL and are 2.5 games ahead of the Braves. What more can you ask for? I’ll tell you…

Aaron Heilman (5-2 3.43 ERA) isn’t the best option anymore for the eighth inning. Joe Smith (1-0 1.31 ERA) is. Willie always sticks with veterans for much longer than he should. Smith isn’t just a side-arming situational righty. He can get anyone out.

Speaking of veterans: Julio Franco is done, caput, finished. He’s taking up a valuable roster spot. If he had any pride he would retire today instead of taking the money that the Mets owe him for the rest of the year. Maybe he could make the Long Island Ducks roster, maybe.

Shawn Green has a small crack in his foot after he fouled the ball off it last night. He’s having a nice season so far (.314 5 HR 22 RBI). But he isn’t worth nearly the $9M that they’re paying him this year. I know he’s got 12 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 SB’s but he’s really lost a lot of the pop in his bat. Carlos Gomez, Lastings Milledge, or Fernando Martinez will make a bigger impact on the team next year.

I’m not too worried about losing series after series to the Braves. As long as they stay in the rear view mirror I’m happy. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Understanding Oliver Perez

Currently Oliver Perez is 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA. These days statistics like that are very respectable for a starting pitcher. It’s certainly not bordering on Bob Gibson territory, but respectable.

Perez’ stats don’t tell the whole story. He’s been a roller coaster ride full of extreme highs and extreme lows. I have a feeling that we need to get used to that. His story is the opposite of Tom Glavine, who’s been the model of consistency over his long career.

Yesterday, Perez was masterful through the sixth inning.  He ended up going 6.2 innings with 9 K’s and no walks. That’s right… no walks!  Who would’ve ever guessed that?

I can see that Rick Peterson has made some improvements while coaching Perez. He doesn’t look like he’s overthrowing his fastball as often as he used to. Now the key is to start working on consistently good starts.

Wright’s Hit Streak Ends, Who Cares?

David Wright’s streak of hits in 26 consecutive games ended last night. Unless a player is closing in on Pete Rose’s NL record 44 games, or Joe DiMaggio’s major league record 56 games it really doesn’t matter. Who cares?

The Mets dropped one to the Braves last night 7-3, moving to 2nd place behind those same Braves. I know that Tim Hudson was the story, pitching an excellent game, but what about the Mets questionable pitching? Pelfrey was bad, so was Feliciano and Burgos showed us why the lowly Royals couldn’t wait to get rid of him. The Mets pitching is really suffering without Pedro Martinez and Duaner Sanchez.  They’ll outhit the bad teams with their excellent lineup, but they’ll struggle against teams that can pitch.

Pitching Staff Comes Back to Earth

The first week of the season was like a dream. John Maine and Oliver Perez were lights out. El Duque looked like he was 30 again. This week things aren’t looking so great. The Mets are still tied for first place with the Braves at 7-3. But we can see why everyone was so concerned about the pitchers before the season started. Maine and Perez both struggled in their second starts. Last night Mike Pelfrey came back from the minors and was shaky, wild, and didn’t even make it out of the sixth inning (the benchmark for a quality start).

I know the cold wet weather has been dreadful in the early part of the season. Today is a perfect mid-50’s day for baseball but there’s a big storm coming in that should last for the next three days. There’s no discounting that the terrible April weather has affected the game for many teams.

The Mets really miss Pedro Martinez. They need that #1 starter. For most teams Glavine would be a 2, El Duque a 4, Maine a 5, and Perez and Pelfrey would be honing their skills in AAA. I know that Oliver Perez has flashes of brilliance, but he’s frustratingly inconsistent.  Mike Pelfrey just needs more time to prepare to face major league hitters. He even had a rough start in single A last week in Florida.

Even with these obvious deficiencies, I think the Mets are in better shape than they were last season. Jose Lima made four starts last year. I think that says it all! We’re going to see Aaron Sele or Chan Ho Park making starts at some point in the near future. I’m not excited by that prospect, but it’s no fun watching Perez and Pelfrey walking every other batter either.