The First Stumble

Apr 12, 2007 05:03 PM

The Mets are now 5-3, two games out of first and one day removed from Oliver Perez's Walk-a-thon. The pessimists are all pointing and saying “See? How are we going to compete with starts like this?”, but I'm not panicking. Perez pitched well in game 7 under pressure, he pitched well in the spring and in his first outing this year. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and blame this on the cold. Maine's situation was similar, he struggled with his control, but he kept it manageable. This was a lot like how he pitched last year; struggling and then getting out of it. I have confidence that they'll both improve over the course of the season. It will be interesting to see how Pelfrey does on Friday, but I think he's ready to make an impact. The Mets bats started out well, but now they seem to have lost that groove, but only fools think that they're suddenly not going to be able to hit. Atlanta won't stay this hot, and the Mets are not going to struggle like this for long. If anything can get the Mets hitting going strong, it's the upcoming series against Washington Nationals pitching.