Another great day to be a Mets fan. We have now taken the series against the Phils and have guaranteed ourselves to at least be tied with them on the season head to head going into tonight's battle between Pelf and that junky piece of garbage Cole Hamels. I will be in attendance tonight to boo him whole-heartedly. I will also be there to see what hopes to be another gem from Mike Pelfrey which would make it about the 6th game in a row with an excellent pitching performance by a Mets starter. Now, do we think there is a coincidence that in this little run of excellent pitching we've won every game? I don't think it's a coincidence as much as a statement.
Since the start of the Yankees series on Friday, Mets starters have had a combined ERA of 0.71. On the excellent 9-1 run our boys went on about a month ago, the starters combined for an ERA of about 1.64. It's no surprise to anyone that good pitching leads to wins, but this definitely gives some additional evidence that this team can do great things with good pitching. At the beginning of the month, the Mets went almost 2 weeks with their starters not marking a win - this we know was a dark time for the streaky Mets in 2010.
There is enough hitting talent on this team to win - especially if stars like Jose Reyes and Jason Bay are actually coming around like we've seen over the last week or two. David Wright will have his hot streaks, Francoeur will have his hot streaks, Ike Davis seems like one of the most consistent hitters on the team right now, Luis Castillo is probably our most consistent on-base guy, and we know the kind of power Rod Barajas has shown. If everyone gets hot together, we'll see some great stuff out of this club no matter what the pitching, but in order to keep winning on a consistent basis, it seems the Mets need to go out there and put a good starter on the hill.
What does this mean? It means RA Dickey is "ridiculously awesome" right now and Takahashi could keep these great performances up, but it can't be relied on. We need one more good arm. The Mets took a 4 pitcher gamble going into this season. Pelf has been stupendous. Niese has shown he can be the consistent guy we need him to be and can step up in a big spot once he comes back from the DL. Maine and Ollie have failed at this point. The team seems to be getting excited now that these distractions are not taking the hill to start every game. Takahashi and Dickey can keep being awesome starters for the Mets - if they do, we'll make the playoffs for sure. But, if you add a 3rd "no worries" arm to this rotation, this team is a playoff contender. You're telling me we're not going to win a 5 game series with Santana-Cliff Lee/Roy Oswalt - and Pelf starting the first 3 games? I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.
Mets management hopefully realizes this so the Kool-aid can keep flowing. This is that different brand of Kool-Aid, not just overly positive, but sure Kool-aid knowing that this team will be Amazin' with just a little tweak. Show me something Omar. Here's a pitcher of Kool-aid - now pour us a glass!
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