Monday, May 02, 2005
Nationals 5, Mets 1
Nationals 5, Mets 3
Mets 6, Nationals 3
Dear Kris,
What's up, man? How's the pectoral muscle? I see you've begun making your way back to the majors with a rehab start in St. Lucie. Three hitless, walkless inning with four strikeouts. Not too shabby. Sure, you hit a batter, but nobody's perfect, right? I'm sure he deserved it. I bet he was leaning out over the plate. What else could you have done?
Look, I know I've said some less than complimentary things about you in the past. I'll admit to getting a little hung up on stuff like "stats" and "numbers" and "things that have happened on the field of play." This may have led me to underestimate your untapped potential. I mean, sure, you're thirty years old, but the average life expectancy of an American male born in 1974 is nearly 70 years. To call you old would simply be inaccurate.
And even if five years of major league experience have given us a pretty good idea of what to expect of you, I may have underestimated the value of an ERA around four. I would have thought that a team with postseason aspirations would be able to get more than that out of their second or third best starting pitcher. In this, I was mistaken. It turns out, in comparison to the guys the Mets are sending out there now you start to look like a good pitcher.
First of all, there's Jae Seo. Now, this guy's only made two starts this year, and one of them was quite good. But in his second shot at major league hitters, he stumbled. He lasted only five innings on Friday. Now, he gave up only three hits, which sounds pretty solid until you realize that all three of them landed on the other side of the distant RFK Stadium fences. He only walked one batter, but then he only struck out two. Seo had one pretty good year (which is plenty of reason to keep giving a guy chances, right Kris?) and it's too early to write him off this year, but counting on him to be more than the fifth best guy on the staff seems like a stretch. At least it does until you start looking at the rest of the staff.
Have you seen this Victor Zambrano guy? Dude sucks. If you thought Seo lasting five innings was bad, Zambrano only got through four! Against the Nationals! He gave up three runs, too. He didn't give up any home runs, but he did walk three batters and allow four hits while striking out just four. He's now struck out 23 this season in 26 1/3 innings. But he's walked 17! Seriously, this guy has a major league contract. And he didn't even have that one good season, like you and Seo. The deal they made to get this guy makes your contract look like a good idea.
And then there's Aaron Heilman. He's got that first round draft pick sheen that you've turned into a career, though he was only picked eighteenth, so it hasn't gotten him quite as far. At times this year he's looked like a bonafide major league pitcher. In a couple of starts at home he's been excellent. But he's still having trouble on the road. This time he did last six innings, though he also gave up three runs. And while he did last longer longer than the previous two guys, it wasn't pretty. He struck out five, which is all well and good, but he also walked five, as many as he'd walked in his four previous starts combined. This one looks like he might be an adequate back of the rotation guy, but what good is that when your rotation has no middle?
At least the offense showed up for Heilman, though it certainly took them long enough. Miguel Cairo made it home from third in the first as Carlos Beltran was picked off of first. And a couple of doubles by Beltran and Cliff Floyd and a single by David Wright in the fouth put two more runs on the board. But that was only enough to tie it. In the ninth, Eric Valent and Marlon Anderson singled and then Jose Reyes beat out a sacrifice bunt to load the bases. A sac fly by Cairo and another Beltran double cleared them and that was enough to give Braden Looper a comfortable lead to protect, which he did, despite giving up a two-out triple to Christian Guzman.
But overall, the Mets did not look good this weekend and subpar starting pitching was a big part of it. Seo and Heilman provide some reason for hope, but not a lot, and even the rosiest predicitions can't peg them as much more that solid back-of-the-rotation guys. So please, hurry back Kris. Your consistent adequacy would be a nice change of pace.
Sincerely,
Joe
P.S. Tomorrow the Mets kick off a four-game series at home against the Phillies as the one pitcher they've got who can safely be described as better than you, Pedro Martinez (2-1, 2.75) takes on apparent Yankee blunder Jon Lieber (4-1, 3.03). ¶ joe | 12:50 AM |
Nationals 5, Mets 3
Mets 6, Nationals 3
Dear Kris,
What's up, man? How's the pectoral muscle? I see you've begun making your way back to the majors with a rehab start in St. Lucie. Three hitless, walkless inning with four strikeouts. Not too shabby. Sure, you hit a batter, but nobody's perfect, right? I'm sure he deserved it. I bet he was leaning out over the plate. What else could you have done?
Look, I know I've said some less than complimentary things about you in the past. I'll admit to getting a little hung up on stuff like "stats" and "numbers" and "things that have happened on the field of play." This may have led me to underestimate your untapped potential. I mean, sure, you're thirty years old, but the average life expectancy of an American male born in 1974 is nearly 70 years. To call you old would simply be inaccurate.
And even if five years of major league experience have given us a pretty good idea of what to expect of you, I may have underestimated the value of an ERA around four. I would have thought that a team with postseason aspirations would be able to get more than that out of their second or third best starting pitcher. In this, I was mistaken. It turns out, in comparison to the guys the Mets are sending out there now you start to look like a good pitcher.
First of all, there's Jae Seo. Now, this guy's only made two starts this year, and one of them was quite good. But in his second shot at major league hitters, he stumbled. He lasted only five innings on Friday. Now, he gave up only three hits, which sounds pretty solid until you realize that all three of them landed on the other side of the distant RFK Stadium fences. He only walked one batter, but then he only struck out two. Seo had one pretty good year (which is plenty of reason to keep giving a guy chances, right Kris?) and it's too early to write him off this year, but counting on him to be more than the fifth best guy on the staff seems like a stretch. At least it does until you start looking at the rest of the staff.
Have you seen this Victor Zambrano guy? Dude sucks. If you thought Seo lasting five innings was bad, Zambrano only got through four! Against the Nationals! He gave up three runs, too. He didn't give up any home runs, but he did walk three batters and allow four hits while striking out just four. He's now struck out 23 this season in 26 1/3 innings. But he's walked 17! Seriously, this guy has a major league contract. And he didn't even have that one good season, like you and Seo. The deal they made to get this guy makes your contract look like a good idea.
And then there's Aaron Heilman. He's got that first round draft pick sheen that you've turned into a career, though he was only picked eighteenth, so it hasn't gotten him quite as far. At times this year he's looked like a bonafide major league pitcher. In a couple of starts at home he's been excellent. But he's still having trouble on the road. This time he did last six innings, though he also gave up three runs. And while he did last longer longer than the previous two guys, it wasn't pretty. He struck out five, which is all well and good, but he also walked five, as many as he'd walked in his four previous starts combined. This one looks like he might be an adequate back of the rotation guy, but what good is that when your rotation has no middle?
At least the offense showed up for Heilman, though it certainly took them long enough. Miguel Cairo made it home from third in the first as Carlos Beltran was picked off of first. And a couple of doubles by Beltran and Cliff Floyd and a single by David Wright in the fouth put two more runs on the board. But that was only enough to tie it. In the ninth, Eric Valent and Marlon Anderson singled and then Jose Reyes beat out a sacrifice bunt to load the bases. A sac fly by Cairo and another Beltran double cleared them and that was enough to give Braden Looper a comfortable lead to protect, which he did, despite giving up a two-out triple to Christian Guzman.
But overall, the Mets did not look good this weekend and subpar starting pitching was a big part of it. Seo and Heilman provide some reason for hope, but not a lot, and even the rosiest predicitions can't peg them as much more that solid back-of-the-rotation guys. So please, hurry back Kris. Your consistent adequacy would be a nice change of pace.
Sincerely,
Joe
P.S. Tomorrow the Mets kick off a four-game series at home against the Phillies as the one pitcher they've got who can safely be described as better than you, Pedro Martinez (2-1, 2.75) takes on apparent Yankee blunder Jon Lieber (4-1, 3.03). ¶ joe | 12:50 AM |
