It won’t let me search to dig up the old thread, oh well.
Maine gets the ball tonight in the Mets second game. One of the SI writers pointed out that he didn’t win the #2 spot but rather the Mets didn’t want him being next to Perez in the rotation (#4 starter) because neither have a history of going late into games. So he’s their #3, but pitching second for now.
Tough assignment tonight against Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins, he’s a potential ace.
Good luck John!
ahh you beat me to it with starting the thread. i’ll be watching tonight. its crucial that Maine gets off to a good start. I can’t stand the mets but obviously a John Maine fan.
Go Niners!
Gave up 4 in 5 innings, including two homers and 8 hits. He won’t get the lost as the Mets came back to tie it up late.
Maine is pitching on ESPN right now. Hasn’t been great, but has worked out of jams, currently has a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th. He’s striking people out, but also walking a lot of people (just gave a free pass to the opposing pitcher as I typed this).
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.[/quote]
Like I have said in the past, John does not have an “out” pitch. He uses a lot of pitches trying to paint the black, but does not have any hard breaking stuff or a great changeup (like Santana) to get that third strike on guys. So many times I have seen him go 0-2 on a hitter, only to run the count to 3-2 with him taking about 4 pitches after that to try to get the guy out. Then, after running the count full he will many times leave a ball high and it will get smashed. He needs to get a killer curveball, slider, split-finger, or changeup, and he would do great.
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.[/quote] He needs to get a killer curveball, slider, split-finger, or changeup, and he would do great.[/quote]lol, thats not the case at all. He’s having to become a totally different pitcher. When he got to the bigs he was consistently 93-95 and a power pitcher with a rising fb and a filthy slurve. I PROMISE you he is pulling out every trick he knows.
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.[/quote]
Like I have said in the past, John does not have an “out” pitch. He uses a lot of pitches trying to paint the black, but does not have any hard breaking stuff or a great changeup (like Santana) to get that third strike on guys. So many times I have seen him go 0-2 on a hitter, only to run the count to 3-2 with him taking about 4 pitches after that to try to get the guy out. Then, after running the count full he will many times leave a ball high and it will get smashed. He needs to get a killer curveball, slider, split-finger, or changeup, and he would do great.[/quote]
He need to be thankful that Jeff Wilpon is such a terrible owner, that Minaya couldn’t go out and spend money on new starting pitching.
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.[/quote] He needs to get a killer curveball, slider, split-finger, or changeup, and he would do great.[/quote]lol, thats not the case at all. He’s having to become a totally different pitcher. When he got to the bigs he was consistently 93-95 and a power pitcher with a rising fb and a filthy slurve. I PROMISE you he is pulling out every trick he knows.[/quote]
The times I have seen him pitch this year he is still hitting 93 or so.
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.[/quote] He needs to get a killer curveball, slider, split-finger, or changeup, and he would do great.[/quote]lol, thats not the case at all. He’s having to become a totally different pitcher. When he got to the bigs he was consistently 93-95 and a power pitcher with a rising fb and a filthy slurve. I PROMISE you he is pulling out every trick he knows.[/quote]
The times I have seen him pitch this year he is still hitting 93 or so.[/quote]
Nope. Prior to yesterday, at least, he topped off at 91 on the gun. In '07, he topped off at 99 on the gun. Also disagree that Maine needs to learn a nasty pitch. When Maine was on the top of his game, his changeup was really good imho.
Anyway, Maine & Jerry Manuel had a fight prior to his start yesterday that made the newspapers. Manuel emphasized aiming pitches during spring training and Maine wants to throw. They charted his pitches and Maine was throwing dead center in the strike zone with scary frequency - way more than his MLB counterparts. And since he was ‘aiming’ his pitches, he was basically tossing in the mid-to-upper 80s. You can’t get away with that on the major league level - you’re batting practice. So Maine stopped using his fastball which obviously hurt his other pitches – hitters weren’t going to get fooled. I mean, when you aim an 84mph fastball, what is your changeup going to really accomplish?
So Maine finally let it rip yesterday. Maybe he did hit 93, I don’t know since I didn’t see the game. Struck out 3 batters in the 2nd inning. He also got in trouble sometimes and walked four batters - but did well enough to keep his team in position to win. More importantly, all the snowballing nonsense from aiming his pitches seemed to stop.
99 pitches in 4 innings. He has to get more economically with his pitches.[/quote] He needs to get a killer curveball, slider, split-finger, or changeup, and he would do great.[/quote]lol, thats not the case at all. He’s having to become a totally different pitcher. When he got to the bigs he was consistently 93-95 and a power pitcher with a rising fb and a filthy slurve. I PROMISE you he is pulling out every trick he knows.[/quote]
The times I have seen him pitch this year he is still hitting 93 or so.[/quote]
Nope. Prior to yesterday, at least, he topped off at 91 on the gun. In '07, he topped off at 99 on the gun. Also disagree that Maine needs to learn a nasty pitch. When Maine was on the top of his game, his changeup was really good imho.
Anyway, Maine & Jerry Manuel had a fight prior to his start yesterday that made the newspapers. Manuel emphasized aiming pitches during spring training and Maine wants to throw. They charted his pitches and Maine was throwing dead center in the strike zone with scary frequency - way more than his MLB counterparts. And since he was ‘aiming’ his pitches, he was basically tossing in the mid-to-upper 80s. You can’t get away with that on the major league level - you’re batting practice. So Maine stopped using his fastball which obviously hurt his other pitches – hitters weren’t going to get fooled. I mean, when you aim an 84mph fastball, what is your changeup going to really accomplish?
So Maine finally let it rip yesterday. Maybe he did hit 93, I don’t know since I didn’t see the game. Struck out 3 batters in the 2nd inning. He also got in trouble sometimes and walked four batters - but did well enough to keep his team in position to win. More importantly, all the snowballing nonsense from aiming his pitches seemed to stop.[/quote]
I don’t know, but 99 pitches in 4 innings says to me that you are going deep in the count a lot. His changeup was never special, but his rising fastball was pretty good and he could put it in good locations. Other than Santana, none of the other Mets starters over the last couple of years have been able to eat up a lot of innings, and that’s Maine included.
good story on whats up
Says he was in the 90-92 range last game and 88-89 first game. If you have been a power pitcher most of your life then its hard to learn the craft all over again, and 5 mph missing will do that. Its not really a certain “pitch” he has to learn to get outs, but a new way of approaching hitters, working backwards, setting them up, etc (what Adam Mills survives on).
good story on whats up [url=http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2010/04/mets_wrap-up_john_maines_fastb.html]http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2010/04/mets_wrap-up_john_maines_fastb.html[/url]Says he was in the 90-92 range last game and 88-89 first game. If you have been a power pitcher most of your life then its hard to learn the craft all over again, and 5 mph missing will do that. Its not really a certain “pitch” he has to learn to get outs, but a new way of approaching hitters, working backwards, setting them up, etc (what Adam Mills survives on).
Left Braves game early tonight with muscle spasms in non throwing arm.
Maine lit up the Dodgers today 9 ks
I picked him up again this year, as an every other week (two start) pitcher. GO JOHN!
Good thing I released him on Monday…
Maybe there’s some overreaction to Maine’s pitching this season.
He got rocked by the Rockies in Colorado. No doubt.
In the rest of his starts, 12 earned runs in almost 26 innings pitched - About a 4.28 era. League average is 4.20. Seems to be throwing better each start, too.
Maine had an up and down season in Triple A (Dunder Mifflin/Wilke Barre Yankees) but the regular season definitely ended on a high note with his last three starts. Should get to pitch in their playoffs.
