Backwards No More

By Tom Nieradka

Editorial. Photos by AP News

The NL East is finally back on its way to normalcy. The Nationals are firmly at the bottom, the Mets, Marlins, and Phillies are jockeying for first, and the Braves are somewhere in between.

This is a far cry from just a few weeks ago where it looked like the Marlins were going to run away with the division and the Mets were on their way to missing the playoffs yet again. At least this time they would have melted down early so we could have gotten the “METS CHOKE AGAIN” headlines out of the way well before the playoffs. Things have a way of evening out though. The good teams start doing well, the crappier teams starting playing crappier, and the Nationals just keep on losing.

The Mets are currently on a seven game win streak, their last loss coming when then starter Oliver Perez gave up four runs in two innings to the Phillies, a team that he had an ERA under 1.00 against last season. Now Perez is in the pen, and the Mets are getting great performances from pitchers coming out of nowhere. Jonathan Niese threw six innings of two run ball against the Pirates, and the struggling Maine and Pelfrey managed to pull it together against the Braves and the Phillies. And let’s not forget about the old guy, the 34-year old Livan Hernandez playing for his ninth MLB team. Oddly enough, he’s looking like the Livan of old, throwing good games against the Braves and the Pirates. Earlier in the season, the problems had been the starting five, but it’s looking better and better for the Mets pitchers. And with Tim Redding on the way to recovery, hopefully the Mets will be in the clear as far as starters go.

And there’s a reason I didn’t mention Johan yet. Johan deserves his own paragraph. Sorry Tim Lincecum, but this year’s Cy Young looks to be headed to New York. And Zach Greinke, you better consider yourself lucky that you’re in the AL. Johan is off to a monster start, going 4-1 with a near microscopic .91 ERA (best in the NL by half a run). But that’s not the best part. He’s also struck out 54 in only 39 innings, putting him in the top five in K’s. Now here’s the kicker. And this is one of those things that sucks, but is good at the same time. The Mets have never given Johan more than 4 runs of support. This was one of the issues that he had last year (the bullpen being the other), but this is kind of a blessing in disguise. If he can win four out of six starts with less than four runs of support, what’s going to happen when the Mets start giving him those runs? The last three games the Mets have been on a tear, scoring at least seven runs per game. And if the Mets lineup can keep scoring, Johan should be able to keep on winning.

He should, that is, if the pen can hold it up. Aside from awful run support, last year the Mets blew the most saves in the majors (29). Out of 28 quality starts that Johan had, he only managed 16 wins. By comparison, John Maine had 11 quality starts and 10 wins. This year’s improved pen should be able to hold out quite a bit more. Over the off-season the Mets purged almost their entire bullpen, and added the likes of J.J. Putz and K-Rod. So far K-Rod has been worth his weight in saves, allowing only two earned runs all season thus far. Setup man Putz has fared slightly worse, managing a 3.50 ERA that has to come down if the Mets want to keep on winning.

And let’s just forget about Sean Green, the other guy who came from the Mariners in the Putz deal. He’s not quite Home Run Heilman yet, but he’s getting there. But judging from the pitcher friendly nature of Citi Field and the fact that he’s not giving up a ton of home runs yet, maybe Ground-Rule Double Green is more appropriate.

But aside from these few blemishes, it’s really the unknowns that have been saving the Mets. Rookie Bobby Parnell has a 1.29 ERA over 14 innings. Brian Stokes has yet to give up a run. Also still waiting to give up a run is the 40 year old Ken Takahashi, who made his MLB debut after the Perez meltdown and held the Phillies scoreless over two innings. It’s all of these guys that need to pull it together for the starters to keep the Mets in the game. And if the pen can pitch like they have been so far, the Mets are headed to the playoffs and Johan is headed to his third Cy Young.