Maine Shows Maturity in Mets Win

John Maine's afternoon pitching performance wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to earn him his 6th win and to send the Mets into San Diego on a winning note. In windy, cool conditions Maine overcame Delgado's lazy play and another error from Reyes to pitch 6 innings of 2 run baseball. Delgado failed to follow a foul ball to the dugout and extended the inning, and Jose's error cost him a run. Reyes made up for his error with his 8th homerun of the season. It was a long high shot into the right centerfield seats and plated 2 runs.

John was getting his fastball to 95-96 mph and his change-up was working at 82-83 mph. That's a pretty good differential that should serve John well if he can consistently throw it for strikes. I don't think Jose's error rattled John, I think the cold conditions just made it hard to grip the breaking pitches. His wild pitch came on a hard slider in the dirt. He said in the post game interview that he had problems with his grip. When pitchers can't grip a ball well, they tend to overthrow it and try to snap the pitch off. Quite frequently this causes the pitches to bounce in the dirt and get past the catcher.

Unlike last year, John has learned how to pitch his way thru bad innings and bad situations. It's not too often that John gets himself into an inning that he can't get out of. He may give up runs, but he never seems to lose his cool and bury the team or himself. Unlike Ollie, John will make the pitches needed to end the inning. That is the biggest improvement from last year with John. He's becoming more of a pitcher, and less of a thrower. Perez hasn't seem to grasp that concept yet, and it will cost him millions of dollars. Every time Ollie has an outing like Monday, he and Boras lose another Million off Ollie's next contract. Every time John has a game like today, he gets one step closer to getting the contract that a #2 starter like John deserves. Make no mistake about it, Johan and John are the top 2 starters on this team. [SNY had this interesting fact during the game today. John Maine is the #1 starter in METS HISTORY going by team winning percentage. Comparing pitchers with at least 50 starts, The Mets have won almost 65% of John's starts. That's better than Seaver, Gooden, Darling, Koosman, and anybody else].Pedro is too brittle and Pelfrey isn't in the conversation yet. Until Pedro stays healthy and starts piling up the victories, he's #3 in the rotation. I really think that before the season is over, the Wilpon's and Omar will offer John a multi-year contract. He's not due one for a few more years, but I believe he's going to be treated like Wright and Reyes were. I say a 5 year $50-60 Million would be about right. John's certainly worth more than Perez, and talk has Perez wanting a 5 year $50 million deal. With the way Ollie is pitching, the only contract he'll be getting is a yearly contract from Seattle, Texas, or Baltimore. All teams desperate for pitching and in smaller markets.

As you all know, I've been a big supporter of John's since he was called up in July of '06. I really enjoy watching him grow as a pitcher and learning how to be a dominating starter the Mets so dearly need. I really think we as fans will see John and Johan be 2 of the most dominating starters in MLB for many years to come. If Pelfrey learns to be a steady #3 starter, the Mets could have their own 21st century version of Gooden, Darling, and Fernandez.

What do you all think? Will Santana and Maine be the cornerstones of the pitching for years to come? Will Big Pelf be part of the equation too? Will Ollie get any kind of contract offer from the Mets? Will John get his money before the year ends?