Mets Chat Room: John Maine returns edition.
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- August
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Forget about John Maine in the bullpen. The Mets need him to give quality start innings. Manager Jerry Manuel said the bullpen is more a priority than what Maine can give the Mets as a starter.
I’m not buying that one for a second. If Maine spits the bit as a starter, it means the Mets will be needing four innings when he pitches. Not good.
Maine is 5-2 in nine career starts against the Nationals, who are hitting all of .207 against him. Since complaining of a tired arm, June 30 at St. Louis, Maine has made six starts and not worked a full five innings in four of them.
This is a huge Mets issue.
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on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 6:10 pm by John Delcos.
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JD is right about Maine here. The Mets need maine down the stretch if they are to truly contend. A big start here by mean could provide a huge lift to this team.
JD
In your mind is there any chance the Mets put the claim on Ibanez?
Well, that might have been Murphy’s worse at-bat as a Met. They need to make things easier for Maine, and leaving guys on base isn’t the way to do it.-JD
Maybe they put the claim in on Washburn, potentially for the bullpen or as insurance to slip into the rotation, if Manuel decides to put one of the current starters in the pen. Btw, nice to see the Mets get a run in the 1st inning, but they potentially should have gotten 3 plus.
JD,
Definitely agree about Murphy i was actually surprised to see him chase a first pitch in the dirt like that. I was equally as surprised to not see him put a ball in the outfield last night with bases loaded and 1 out…
Are we sure that Frank Robinson hasn’t returned to the Nationals to teach at lesson to this young pitcher to throw strikes?
Annie,
It’s getting borderline ridulous…
Well there’s a crooked number. All kidding aside this should take the pressure of Maine and let him relax and do his work on the mound. However, as we saw in Boston be careful….
All right, who are those guys in the black jerseys and what have they done with the Mets?-JD
I think they’ve gone back into the big, new clubhouse to watch the Olympics.
Yeah nothing like synchronized 10 m springboard diving to get your bats going. I think im embarassed for knowing that…
Maine is at 68 pitches. He has a big lead, so he’s not working it as if it were 3-2. There’s no reason to push him. They could get him the win and maybe give some innings to the guys in their pen who are struggling to see if the work out some of their problems.-JD
David: I won’t tell.-JD
Well, now it’s 12-0 for the Mets – are we getting close to a safe lead??? I only ask because of some recent history…
JD,
I agree about Maine. Get him through next inning and eligible for the win. Then get some of these guys some low pressure innings. Perfect chance to get Stokes some work as well.
And once again wow about Murphy. Opposite field pop.
Maine is done for the night. Ninety pitches. No runs on one hit and four walks with six strikeouts in five innings. And, as you requested Dave, Brian Stokes is in for your viewing pleasure.-JD
JD,
Good to see Stokes, however i must admit im sneaking a peek at women’s beach volleyball…
In one game stokes how outpitched the rest of the bullpen…..How funny is it that if he pitches the 9th he can get a save.
So, what kind of night was it before Howie had this game put in “The Book”?
It was a night where Howie and Wayne were singing the theme songs from old TV shows; telling us about the lights in DC and how many of the buildings you could see from the Press Room along with a discussion of the size of the DC mosquitos.
John wanted to know who had kidnapped the real Mets and I wondered just how safe that 12-0 lead was.
A fun night at the ball park -
A very enjoyable game to watch for a change. God job and some positive things all around. I know that Washington has a bad team this year, but, the Mets did a lot of things that they had been failing to do. I hope the good felling carries over.
That’s feeling…my bad.
What is the deal with Stokes? What is his major flaw? His AAA numbers aren’t all that fantastic and he had a terrible ERA in relief for Tampa Bay last season. It’s just at a glance his mid-nineties fastball and sharp slider look like they are quite effective.
With that come from behind win by the Dodgers (thanks Nomar), the Mets are now in 1st place.
Your first place NY Mets. Let’s go OLLIE and the Mets, Let’s go Mannywood and let’s take sole possession by the end of the night.
Here we go again with Maine…. NINETY PITCHES IN 5 INNINGS WITH A 12-0 LEAD????? That is riddiculous. I think the Mets are expecting too much if they think he is going to go 6 to 7 innings with regularity throwing so many pitches. Also riddiculous is the fact that while nursing that 12-0 lead, Brian Stokes got credited for his first career save. LOL!
TJ: I was wondering the same thing myself about Stokes. Maybe his fastball is too straight, but chances are he just lacks an A+ outpitch. Which happens also to be a problem for Mr. Maine. He has plenty of good pitches, but not one outpitch that is top notch. That certainly contributes to his high pitch counts.
Steve: you’re kidding about your reaction to Maine right? The man came back after not pitching in what 17 days? Threw 5 shut out 1 hit innings and you’re complaining that he threw 90 pitches? Some people just look for something to complain about. You should relax, it was 12-0 when he left, absolutely no reason to push someone, especially coming off of an injury. Would you rather him throw less pitches and give up more hits/runs? C’mon…
Well slow day so I’ll jump in here. I actually agree with both Bob and Steve about Maine last night. Bob is absolutely right when he says it’s been a long layoff for Maine. However Steve is also right with the walks and the high pitch count especially with the big lead. Fact is better teams dont let you get away with that as ironically enough the mets proved with Bergman last night. I’m willing to chalik it up to some rust after the layoff but its definitely something to keep an eye on as this was one of Maine’s biggest issue prior to the injury.
Bob: You have to look at the big picture here. Maine missed, what? A start or two? It’s not like he missed 6 months of the season. But it still goes to the fact that the guy still throws way too many pitches. I’m not looking for something to complain about, my point is very valid and has been a concern of Maine’s since the first month of the season.
Steve – you are right and a a little wrong. You can’t call this the same Maine simply because a layoff doesn’t keep you sharp no matter how short it is. Also, Maine didn’t ask out of the game.
You are right though that there is something lacking in Maine this year that makes him throw too many pitches. 2 strikes right away, it’s that 3rd one that is elusive for him.
Confidence? Don’t know. Whatever it is he needs to work it out.
Clm,
You’re right he did not ask out but 90 pitches after 5 innings is too high how much could he have realistically gone. 1 more maybe. The thing that probably bothered Steve because it bugged me were the 4 walks, especially since all 4 walks came after the 8 run inning. I know that 2 came in the 5th and maybe he was tiring but either way its just not good game management. Like i said before maybe we can chalk it up to some rust and hopefully it doesnt continue.
CLM: I Just think he lacks a true out pitch. Nothing is exceptional, he just has “very good” pitches IMO.
I think the other thing is that is at issue is – The guy threw 5 innings of one hit ball after the DL. Most people will take that and never give it a second thought. So when they see someone make a “complaint” about what most consider a good job it looks like carping.
I have been caught up in this a little this year. Pondering this (always wanted to use that word in a statement) I think what is at issue and what causes arguments on blogs a lot of the time is that there is no tone of voice. When talking you can hear the thought process evolving and understand the point better. Here? While entertaining, informative, it just cannot get the entire thought across as well. Sorry JD!!!
Well now I have done my civic duty for the day, and LET’S GO METS!!! Did my tone come through loud and clear?
Steve – I agree. And I don’t understand that. He can dial it up to 95 with movement. That should do it but it doesn’t. Oh, well the imponderables of baseball. Just like that word for some reason.
Give Maine a break on the walks. He had not picthed in 16 days. He is bound to be rusty.
That being said, as far as putting away hitters and keeping pitch count down, Maine will struggle until he has a breaking picth or changeup he can throw more often for strikes.