I missed the last Shea home opener because I work for the Man. Several Men, and a few Women, actually, who do not allow streaming video on the company wires. I didn't miss much, as the Mets dropped another one, this time to the hateable Phillies, 5-2.
Oliver Perez had another stellar outing, giving up only three hits and three walks in five innings. The bullpen failed to hold another lead, though, with Schoeneweis and Heilman (sounds like one of those personal injury law firms that advertise on the outer cable channels) doing their worst. The Mets got an early couple of runs off Old Man Jamie Moyer, but that was all they could muster for the day, as Chad Durbin, JC Romero, and the previously combustible Tom Gordon shut them out.
The good news is, Wright, Delgado and Beltran are all hitting, Pagan, Church and Schneider aren't embarrassing themselves, yet, and at least Perez and Santana look sharp. The bad news is the bullpen, which could be a disaster this year, especially since they will be overtaxed having to mop up for Mike Pelfrey and Nelson Figueroa. Of course, Pelfrey and Figueroa pitching in the first place is the real bad news. El Duque will have to miss a rehab start while he continues to recover from his foot ailment, and there's no telling when Petey will be back.
The loss drops the Mets to 2-4, a game and a half behind the Marlins, who have been getting fat on Pittsburgh and Washington. The Braves lost again to the Rockies, a team that was hitting under .200 coming into that series. The NL East looks historically awful right now.
5 comments:
You wrote: "Of course, Pelfrey and Figueroa pitching in the first place is the real bad news."
Why? The only possible reason is that you'd rather have Martinez and Hernandez. Other than that, why not wait until you see how they do. Pelfrey was OK Wednesday, giving up 2 runs in 5 innings. Let's see how Figueroa does on Friday against Milwaukee (6-1 as of Thursday A.M.). Yes, his last ML season was in 2004 but in 2007 he pitched in Triple A (Mexican League) and averaged 8+ innings per game with ten, that's ten complete games, then pitched in China (MVP of the 2007 China World Series) then, back in this hemisphere, was voted MVP of the 2008 Caribe World Series over Miguel Tejada. Those are outstanding achievements no matter where they were accomplished.
I hope you are right. Ten complete games, though...given every other pitcher's inability to pitch more than a handful of complete games per year, I would say that this statistic is meaningless at best, and at worst, it means he's thrown his arm out.
Judging by PECOTA, which admittedly has a hard time with guys like this who have been out of the country for years, he should be replacement-level. That might be all we need in this division.
from Tim about Figueroa's 10 complete games in 2007: "I would say that this statistic is meaningless at best, and at worst, it means he's thrown his arm out."
Meaningless? 19 starts in 2007, 10 complete games with a 3.87 ERA in 153.2 innings? Averaging 8+ innings per game for a team that finished 24 games out? And in the 2008 Caribe World Series, Figueroa pitched into the 10th inning of a 1-1 game, was taken out after a 1-out single, and ended with a no-decision. Two days later, that's TWO days later, he relieved in the bottom of the 9th, score 4-4, 1st and 3rd, one out; 3 pitches later (pop up, ground out), he was out of the inning. Mexico scored 3 in the top of the 10th and Figueroa retired Licey (Dominican Republic) 1-2-3 for the win. Both appearances were against Licey, the eventual winner of the 2008 Caribe Series. Nelson Figueroa was voted MVP over, among others, Miguel Tejada. that was in January and he could still pitch 9+ innings and relieve two days later. His arm is just fine.
What I am saying is that he won't pitch those kinds of innings and CG in the Majors. The competition is much stronger, and Randolph and Peterson would never let him accrue the kind of pitch count he would need to achieve those numbers.
The question is, how does that past success translate against the competition he'll face in the majors? BP has him pegged as replacement level. I would say, if we can get that from him, we'll be fortunate. Meanwhile, Pedro and Duque are predicted to be around 3 wins better than Figueroa and Pelfrey. All things considered, I'd rather have Duque and Pedro, but this is what we have, so let's hope for the best. Like I said, I hope you are right about Nelson. Let's go Mets!
Let's Go Nelson! LET'S GO METS!
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