NEW YORK -- Friday night was a freebie for the Mets. Few things in baseball are a better bet than Johan Santana against the pitiful Nats, and so it was that a four-game losing streak went quietly by the wayside, giving the Mets a night to breathe and forget about that ugly three-game sweep in St. Louis.But Saturday it all starts up again, with Mike Pelfrey set to go in the afternoon heat. Pelfrey is one of the Mets' starters other than Santana, which means he represents one-fourth of the biggest problem the Mets have had this young season.
Mets starters other than Santana are 3-5 with a 7.32 ERA this year, infecting the team's start so severely that the people running it have already started discussing a shakeup. Per Adam Rubin in the New York Daily News:
"A team insider later elaborated that no one, aside from Johan Santana, has immunity. Translation: Oliver Perez or Pelfrey, who can be optioned to the minors without passing through waivers, could be ticketed for the minors, while Livan Hernandez's standing as fifth starter could be on shaky ground. Perez would have to consent to a minor-league assignment, like Steve Trachsel did in 2001, since he has more than five years of major-league service time. John Maine, who is 0-2 with a 7.47 ERA, is out of minor-league options and needs to stay on the roster, but - like Perez and Pelfrey - could be sent to the pen."
Mets GM Omar Minaya huffily denied the report several times Friday, telling us before the game, "I think it's too early to panic." But Rubin isn't making this up. It comes from somebody, up high with the team, who's telling him they're unhappy with the way the product looks so far.
Fans are angry too, and while it might be easy to dismiss that as ridiculous, the fans (and whoever it is in management who's ticked) can justify their impatience by pointing out that the problems in the first 15 games of this season reflect the malaise that cost them division titles in the Septembers of 2007 and 2008. And they're right. So far this season, the 7-9 Mets have looked kind of lame.
But it's easy to look lame when your starting pitching is terrible. Friday night, the Mets looked all right. Yeah, 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position and K-Rod gave up a homer in the ninth and it probably shouldn't have been that close. But they won the game. No coincidence, Santana was pitching. On the four days prior, they looked like losers, because the starting pitching set a losing tone.
Manager Jerry Manuel is giving his starting rotation one more turn to prove something or face changes.
"We are still, for the most part, going to be patient, so that means at least another turn through," Manuel said Friday afternoon. "During that period, obviously, we're looking for some improvement. That might not manifest itself in wins and losses, but it could manifest itself in stuff, location, making pitches, things like that."
This really shouldn't come as a surprise. After Santana, all four starters entered the season with major question marks attached. Pelfrey is 25 and pitched a ton of innings in 2008. Maine was coming off of shoulder surgery and has never had extended big-league success without Rick Peterson as his pitching coach. Perez was a walk machine last year even when pitching well. Hernandez is ... well, we all know what Hernandez is.
So it's not shocking to find, a couple of weeks in, that starting pitching has surfaced as a major question mark. What is shocking is the level to which this foursome has so far flopped. Hernandez has the lowest ERA of the bunch at 7.31.
"I am surprised at the bases on balls," Manuel said. "That surprises me a little bit. With young pitchers coming into the season, there are always concerns, so you have to be a little bit more patient. But the one thing I'm not patient with is the bases on balls. You can't defend against that."
Minaya remains defiant in his belief that the pitching staff he assembled can and will ultimately be a winner.
"You'd like guys to do better, but the reality is we're in April," Minaya said. "If it was like this in September, then I'd be surprised."
What he can do in the meantime is the major question. For this year's Mets to make it, one pitcher from that non-Santana foursome is going to have to step forward and have a great year, and at least one other is going to have a really good one. Failing that, you're going to be hearing a lot of Fernando Martinez-for-Roy Halladay (or Jake Peavy, or whoever) trade rumors come June and July. Plus rumors about Minaya's job.
Mets ownership has invested a lot of money in this roster and this beautiful new ballpark, and they're not going to stay patient for long. Neither, to hear him tell it, is the skipper.
"I'm at the bridge," Manuel said, laughing. "I ain't jumping yet, but I'm at the bridge. So if I'm at the bridge, I've got to take some folks with me."
