Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 17, 2008
Rotation, Rotation, Rotation

With Pedro Martinez putting together his third good outing in a row, the Mets rotation has gelled in August. The group is going deep in games and limiting opponents walks. Granted, their opposition hasn't been that stiff, but they're taking advantage of the lull in the schedule to get this group in shape. I thought if Santana and Pedro could form a good 1-2 punch the Mets would be tough to beat. That may turn out to be true over the last quarter of the season.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:53 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

The starters as a whole performed just as well in July, although the rotation had a less stable appearance, with inconsistency from Maine and Martinez and a couple not-too-great spot starts needed from the likes of Tony Armas, Jr. Still, it's hard to argue with a 3.24 ERA, 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 month from your rotation, 'gelled' or not.

Posted by: Anais at August 17, 2008 10:45 AM

re: santana & martinez - great combination

absolutely agree with your comment--if pedro martinez is even 1/3 of peak career value pedro martinez, combined with current peak career value johan santana, they form a very difficult one-two punch at the head of the rotation for the mets, especially in watered down expansion baseball.

other comparable pairs would have been schilling-johnson, d-backs, 2001; schilling-martinez, bosox, last several years; and now santana-martinez.

if the mets gain the post-season and face the dodgers or d-backs, they will face some tough pitching either brandon webb or one of the dodgers best, but they have the depth now to win in the playoffs.

as for the stretch run vs the phillies, the mets have been winning vs the weak teams and putting a lot of pressure on the phillies. the mets have picked up ten games in the standings since june--the phils were once up 8 games on the mets. now the mets are up two games.

this is primarily a result of improved pitching, and much better response to managing from jerry manuel.

about 35 to play, may the best team win.
--art kyriazis, philly

Posted by: art kyriazis at August 18, 2008 11:52 AM
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