Thursday, August 03, 2006

One up, one down

Looks like Pedro's back, what a solid outing... Too bad it was wasted.

Unfortunately, he can't pitch 9 innings which means we have to go to the bullpen, and that meant another chance for Heilman to 'shine'. The mets need to give him a shot in starting rotation or get rid of him, because he clearly has no interest in being a professional and simply playing his role as a reliever, and that's really dragging the team down.

4 comments:

Fredo said...

Well, I don't think Aaron's trying to fail. I just think he's not that good. Other than his one dominating stretch right after he dropped his arm angle ('05), he has been a below average-to-average pitcher his entire career. After he changed his mechanics he seemed to be fooling hitters, but the league seems to have caught on now. Opposing hitters are seeing the ball well.

It's too bad we weren't in a situation to get something for him at the deadline, because by next year is value will be a fraction of what it is now. And he will leave to start somewhere else eventually. Someone will be willing to give him a shot.

Fredo said...

And let's not pretend the loss matters. All that matters is that (1) Pedro looks healthy again; and (2) Heilman looks ready to cede 8th inning duties to Hernandez.

BTW, is it just me, or is this headline incredibly misleading:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260803128

Dontrelle did not "outduel" Pedro. Pedro left the game tied at 1.

SheaHeyKid said...

Yeah, no way you can characterize that as Willis outdueling pedro, other than Dontrelle being able to go more innings. Pedro looked strong which is great.

What worries me from last night's game was that it was yet another example of Mets offense being unable to manufacture runs against solid pitching. Of course, I realize minimizing runs is what makes the great pitchers great, and so our offense will drop against them. But our offense seems to be particularly jekyll and hyde, which doesn't bode well for us in the WS if we face Sox (red or white) or tigers. I think we're ok vs. Yanks, since their staff is not that good. But if we can't score runs, and it comes down to a pitching battle, we are going to be in a bad way unless glavine and one other starter (maine?) can put together the performance of their lives.

On the other hand, however far we get this year, the future looks great if one or more of pelfrey, maine, and bannister pans out. On top of which we probably pick up at least one big-name veteran, either Zito or Willis. I can taste the dynasty...

Fredo said...

Aw well, I just published an effin three page response and it got erased by this stupid blog. I'll give you the short short version.

Even the most clutch hitting teams can only scratch out that come-from-behind run infrequently. The trick is to not need it too often. As our offense is first in the NL, we haven't needed it that frequently.

Sometimes we only see the flaws in the team we root for and think all other teams, like the Sox, can't ever lose. But then again, they obviously haven't been getting enough big hits since they're in second place and still on the edge of missing the playoffs.