Making The Grade

By Shari Forst
Posted Saturday, July 7, 2007

With the All Star break right around the corner I thought I would give my grades for the starting pitching so far in 2007. It was thought to have been one of the big problems this season, but as it turns out the pen has been faulty in a lot of the games.

Tom Glavine-7-6 ERA: 4.39 Grade: B-

Glavine always starts out well and falls by the wayside by June, I think this season in particular that 300 win milestone is on his mind more than the game at hand. I wrote in a previous article that I think he will turn things around for the second half and buckle down. We just have to keep in mind that he gives the team 6 innings at best and is 41 years old-he’s not going to blow anyone’s doors off at this point in his career. He was always a finesse pitcher – even when he is on, it becomes tougher as he gets older and if he doesn’t get those calls when he nibbles at the corners he is forced to throw an 88 mph fastball down the middle and that’s when he gets clobbered.

Orlando Hernandez 4-4 ERA 3.22 Grade: B

I really cannot complain too much about El Duque-however old he is doesn’t seem to matter much, more often than not he has a hiccup in the first inning or two and then settles down nicely to give the team a solid effort-with the exception of the last Colorado series, I feel he has been a solid addition since coming over from the Diamondbacks last May. If he can stay healthy and doesn’t rip or tear anything during warm ups this year I think he will be one of the more consistent Met starters.

John Maine 10-4 ERA 2.71 Grade A-

I never would have thought the Mets got the better end of the Kris Benson deal, but Maine has proven to be a real steal since coming over from Baltimore. Last season he pitched well consistently, and gave the Mets a solid performance in the 2006 playoffs. He had maybe 2 bad outings that I count so far this year, and even those weren’t that bad, he just wasn’t as on as he usually is and he certainly gave the team a chance to win the game. Snubbed by the All-Star game probably because of his quiet demeanor, he is pitching like an all-star in 2007 in my opinion.

Jorge Sosa 7-3 ERA 3.92 Grade B

This was certainly another pleasant surprise, I expected him to be worse than Jose Lima and stink on ice-to my delight and I’m sure Rick Petersen’s Sosa has been nothing but solid, taking the place of Mike Pelfrey who was absolutely putrid. Sosa had his career year with the Braves but after that one season he became a disaster on the mound. When the Mets signed him I rolled my eyes and asked WHY? After his stint in AAA he came back dominant and his only really awful outing had to of course come against the Braves, but other than that I can’t complain about him at all-except for the fact that he is now on the 15-Day disabled list giving way to scrubs like Jason Vargas who got shelled in Colorado.

Oliver Perez 7-6 ERA 3.14 Grade B+

I liked Perez from the first moment I saw him pitch as a Met, I always said I enjoyed watching one of his meltdown games more than watching Steve Trachsel pitch a one hit shutout and I meant it. Perez has a fire and energy that I love, his youthful excitement, skipping off the mound over the baseline after every half inning is fun to watch-AND whatever went bad for him in Pittsburgh has seemed to straighten out thanks to Rick Petersen’s guidance. Last year when the Mets had no choice in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Cardinals it was up to Perez to pitch a good game, and he came up big for the team.

He has continued on in 2007 being everything everyone expected and more, he will have his bad games, like the one where he walked 7 batters –but more often than not this season he has pitched well, and even if he was a little off like Maine he kept the Mets in the game.

All in all, on a whole the starting pitching has been good; I won’t go as far as to say stellar-but certainly decent enough to win. It’s some of the guys in the pen like Scott Schoene-WASTE, Aaron Sele, and Guillermo Mota who have been the problem lately. I’m not saying the Mets couldn’t use a sure fire ace, because even with the possibility of Pedro coming back they still need another guy who will go out there and win in a commanding fashion.