The situation:
The Mets are in the 3rd game of a stretch of 20 games in 20 days. That's right, from June 16th to July 6th, the Mets have 20 games, 20 days, no days off.
Brutal schedule.
Mets are up 4-2.
On the hill is rubber armed Livan Hernandez, and he is pitching a beauty.
7 innings, 2 runs, and he is only at 100 pitches.
Moreover, of those 100 pitches, 64 were for strikes--a phenomenal ratio.
So what would you do? What did Jerry do?
What you do is leave him in the game. He is easily capable of 20-30 more pitches, perhaps even a complete game.
What Jerry did is go to the bullpen.
He went to Pedro Feliciano, who leads the league in appearances.
He went to Sean Green, who is pitching beautifully, but who has also appeared in 6 of the last 7 Met games.
He went to Frankie Rodriguez, who leads the league in games finished.
- Frankie is on pace to appear in 81 games--a new career high!
- Feliciano is on pace for 93 games--a new career high!
- Sean Green is on pace for 76 games--a new career high!
You'd leave Livan in the game--it made all the sense in the world to leave him in.
20 games in 20 days, 100 pitches, a 4-2 lead, a tired and overworked bullpen that is breaking down before our eyes, and Nieve on the hill the next day.
How about the overworked bullpen in June?
- Parnell, 0-2, 7.20 ERA
- Frankie, 0-2, 2.20 ERA, 3 for 5 in saves
- Feliciano, 0-1, 4.50 ERA
But Jerry is Jerry....and he made a bad decision...again.
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6 comments:
You nailed it.
When you look at the whole situation, it just made zero sense to pull Livan.
With this schedule, and Jerry's propensity to pitch the same relievers every day, how the heck are we supposed to get through a season?
And to be clear, I'm not putting this on Frankie--he's human--but there are times to go to the bullpen, and times to stick with the starter.
If there was ever a time to stick with the starter, it was last night.
Perfect time to see if Livan can get you through 9....maybe even 8 1/3 or something.
100 pitches, a 2 run lead, no pinch-hitting requirement....20 games in 20 days...guys on record pace for appearances in the bullpen...Nieve on the hill the next day.
Hello? Anyone?
And FYI...
I'm not buying the arm cramp story.
Livan is letting his manager off the hook.
Jerry had guys warming up after the 6th.
How do we expect our bullpen to win any games in September if their arms are going to fall off by then?
Terrible, terrible judgment by JM.
Dave what do you mean you're not buy the "arm cramp story"? You mean to say the Mets would not be truthful with information dealing with one of their players health? Are you saying I shouldn't believe what Mets management tells me? What's next, that Mr. Met is not real and that's some guy in a disguise?
This story simply underlines the propensity of JM to rely on his bullpen and it overshadows the fact that no starter seems to be able to last past the 7th inning (except for the 55 yr old cuban-defect Livan) It's getting absolutely intolerable to keep hearing that pitchers have this 100 pitch capacity. Give. Me. A. Break. The logic is flawed: Preserve starting pitchers but wear down my bullpen guys since they are only throwing an inning every other game.
JM is coaching scared and apprehensive and this veil of nonchalance is an act to not have the media feed on him.
Mets are not playing baseball, they are playing scared, timid ball and it's downright depressing.
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