Well, John Maine didn’t exactly go as deep into tonight’s game as you might have hoped… in fact, he was out one batter into the game (right after a five pitch walk to The National’s leadoff hitter Nyjer Morgan).
Maines warm-up session didn’t seem to go very well, with his velocity down and his mechanics different than normal. The Mets pitching coach, Dan Warthen didn’t like what he saw and Maine was pulled and replaced by left-hander Raul Valdes, who then went five innings, giving up only one run.
Already down two starting pitchers when Oliver Perez was demoted to the bullpen after another disasterous start and Jon Niese went on the DL, the Mets cannot afford another blow. Maine had been pitching fairly well in the few starts before his last one but the Mets are looking at a rotation of Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Hisanori Takahashi, R. A. Dickey, and Valdez. Not exactly what was expected when the season started.
This is getting to be a critical part of the season here. The pitching is going to play a huge part.
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