Hey, Maine: It's not about you

John Maine has pitched some big games for the Mets. Getting him in the Kris Benson deal was a huge win for Omar Minaya. He is, as Dan Warthen said after Thursday night's game, "a warrior." Most Mets fans, I feel, like the guy.

But he's got a lot to sort out now.

Maine has a problem. Whether it is medical, mechanical or mental -- it may be some combination of the three -- he needs to figure out what it is and if he can overcome it and become an effective pitcher again. And he needs to understand that Jerry Manuel, Warthen and his teammates do not have the luxury of allowing him to figure it out on the mound during a game.

I pointed out, in a recent post, that Maine had had several strong starts before his previous one, something that Bobby Ojeda also noted in his post-game comments. So Maine was not ready to be written off for the season.

That all changed Thursday night. Ojeda noted that even "the untrained eye" could see that when Maine pitched to the leadoff hitter, something was wrong. His delivery was slow, so of course his velocity -- a point of concern since his 2008 shoulder surgery -- was down. Way down.

In the bullpen, he could barely crack 80, according to several reports. He was bouncing pitches. It was so bad that the Mets had Raul Valdes warming up from the get-go, one of several things Maine was miffed about.

"I don't care if it's 95. I don't care if its 75 mph," Maine said. "I just want to go out there and pitch."

That's awesome, John, but there are plenty of people who do care if it's 75. And if you're bouncing pitches. And if your delivery is clearly off. Kudos to Manuel and Warthen for stopping a train wreck before it happened.

Warthen raised some eyebrows with his post-game comments, particularly about Maine's ability to tell the truth about his health. But no one should turn this mole hill into a mountain.

Warthen said, "John's a habitual liar in a lot of ways as far as his own health. He's a competitor and a warrior and he wants to go out there and pitch. But you have to be smart enough to realize this guy isn't right. The ball is not coming out of his hand correctly."

He had a smile on his face when he said the opening sentence, implying that the Mets know that Maine will do anything and say anything to take the ball, and that is the attitude you want your starting pitchers to have. But there comes a point when you just can't let a pitcher run himself down.

Maine said several times after the game, "I just want to pitch," and that is admirable. But it's not helping the team. He was also upset that he wasn't given a chance to argue his case. Clearly, Warthen and Manuel had seen enough, so there was no case to be made.

Maine was angry, and Manuel and Warthen understand why. Maine needs to understand why they did what they did and get over himself.

Maybe Maine is scared. It's understandable. He's not the same pitcher he was two years ago. That doesn't mean his career is over. He has an opportunity to make adjustments, unless there is something physically wrong that needs to be corrected. In this case, the Mets absolutely were right in shutting him down.

Oh, yeah, the Mets won, 10-8. The offense woke up with 15 hits -- two by Reyes, three by Bay and only one by Wright, who drove in four, including a bases-loaded double in the first. Yes, it got WAY too close for comfort at the end, but after seeing your starter last just five pitches, coming out with a win was huge, especially with the Yankees series looming.

Give Valdes tons of credit for stepping up the way he did. But the patchwork starting staff -- Manuel said Oliver Perez isn't coming back to the rotation until he gets himself straightened out in the pen -- is alarming.

Hopefully, Maine checks out OK and can start again, but all bets are off. The situation once again exposes Minaya's inability to bring in one or more starters in the off-season. And you have to wonder why. It was a big need. The Mets knew what Maine was like. Even if Minaya was forced to keep Perez in the rotation and had 100-percent confidence in Jon Niese, that's still just four pitchers plus Maine.

That lack of depth is killing them now, and whether or not ownership didn't allow Minaya to spend any more money on free agent pitchers is moot. While this team continues to try and win as constituted, Job One for Minaya is to get another starter, or two, or three.

The season may not be as successful as we'd have liked, but it's sure been interesting. I'll take wins over drama any day.

OK, so not everything went completely right

As fantastic as the Mets' pitching has been so far, it's really been all about Santana, Pelfrey and the bullpen, with a little bit of "that Jon Niese isn't half-bad" thrown in for good measure, followed always by, "Now if we can just get Maine and Perez on track, we'll be OK."

Well, John Maine looked pretty darn good Wednesday, throwing six solid innings in cold and windy conditions, ignoring the bluster to allow just four hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. Maine only topped off at around 90, but his pitches were on the mark, and he looked like the John Maine of old.

Thanks to Maine and some more timely hitting, especially by the middle of the order (in their last 10 games, the 3-6 hitters are batting .315 with RISP), the Mets wrapped up a 9-1 homestand -- the team has never had a better one -- and won their seventh straight ballgame to stay in first place as the prepare for a weekend series in Philadelphia.

The lead could have been even greater had Bruce Bochy not hand-delivered the Phillies a gift-wrapped comeback with a big bow on top.

The Giants had a 4-1 lead at home in the top of the ninth. Tim Lincecum, who had been allowed to bat for himself in the bottom of the eighth, retired the first batter in the ninth before walking Shane Victorino on four pitches.

To that point, Lincecum had walked no one and struck out 11. His pitch count was at 106. He had been dominating the Phillies all day.

So instead of giving the reigning Cy Young Award winner the chance to finish what he started, or even letting him try and get the next guy out, Bochy went by the book and brought in closer Brian Wilson.

Bochy later called Wilson one of the best closers in baseball. Wilson has four saves this season, but anyone who knows anything knows that Wilson is far from a sure thing. He's certainly not better than Lincecum, who said later that he could have continued, something no one should doubt given his track record.

Of course, the Phillies rallied to tie the game, and after some back-and-forth won the game in 11 innings.

So instead of flying across the country with a loss hanging around their heads (and a 1 1/2-game deficit in the NL East standinsg), the Phillies celebrated yet another "gritty, gutty" victory and enjoy some momentum heading into the series at home against the Mets.

I know, I'm getting greedy. But it would have been nice to see the Phillies come into the series on the down slide instead of riding the high of a dramatic victory.

In game one Friday, Niese faces Kyle Kendrick, who's sort of the Phillies version of Ollie Perez. Game two Saturday has Pelfrey against Halladay at 3:10 p.m. (clear your schedules), with Santana against Moyer in yet another Sunday night ESPN game.

Over/under for Moyer age-related references: 1,273.

Moyer always seems to kill the Mets. I advocate benching the starters and using all reserves, or better yet, calling up the AAA starters for one game. They'd hammer the sh*t out of him.

Talking us off the ledge already? Please.

Before I launch into my screed, take a moment to enjoy the accompanying video, which harkens to better times (hat tip to Jake Levich).

Remember that John Maine? The guy who struck out 14 Marlins on the second-to-last day of the 2007 season to push the Mets into a first-place tie? Who as a throw-in in the Benson-Julio deal looked like one of Omar Minaya's biggest steals? Big-game pitcher? That John Maine?

The problem is, we do, and coming off a shoulder injury, Maine has not looked like himself in his two starts this season, and that has helped the Mets get off to a 2-5 start that has the media sharpening their knives and fans stepping out onto the nearest ledge. It got so bad in Tuesday night's blowout loss to the Rockies (Maine: 3 innings, 7 hits, 3 walks, 8 runs) that Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez took calls from the viewers and SNY morphed into WFAN.

Guys, you're better than that.

I expect the media to salivate over situations like this, but they have taken it to another level with the Mets. Jerry Manuel has to do something! Other than start Angel Pagan every day in center, what would you have him do? He can't pitch.

The negativity is remarkable, and the Mets get it coming and going. The starting pitching is terrible. The sample size? Seven games. So we're not going to give them any time to get it together? No one is allowed a slow start, like Maine, coming off an injury? Not even a month? Insane.

Oh, but when you mention how well the bullpen is doing, then it's a miniscule sample size, and don't worry, give them time, they'll fail eventually.

So are we not giving them any time, or are we?

We heard so much about how the Mets NEEDED to get off to a strong start. Why? To erase the demons from seasons past? I blame Manuel for feeding into this nonsense when he agreed they needed to come out fast. Now they haven't, and the buzzards are circling. Last I checked, you don't carry losses over from season to season. Everyone starts 0-0.

The Mets are 2-5. How terrible! Had Rod Barajas's sinking liner sunk 6 more inches Saturday, maybe the Mets win that game and they're 3-4 with one series win. No matter, you'd still hear the complaining about how awful Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis are at first base.

That's the other thing -- no one can accept that the Mets had injuries to start the season. OH NO, IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN! Had they been at full strength and 2-5, then maybe there would be some small cause for alarm. But again, it's still just seven games.

The reality is that Carlos Beltran is out til mid- or late May, as is Daniel Murphy. Jose Reyes missed the first four games. That's going to have an effect. Deal with it.

You have people calling for Ike Davis. Yes, he's hitting well at AAA -- for a week. He'll be here eventually. I hate Mike Jacobs as much as the next guy, and think Chris Carter deserved the shot to play instead, but it is what it is.

Then you have Mike Francesa, to whom I avoid listening as much as possible. But today, going to lunch, I turned on the FAN in time to hear how Luis Castillo is the problem, that he is "unhappy" and has to go. In one breath, Francesa says he "is not knocking" Castillo, and in the next he implies that his calf injury is one of many false injuries that are signs that wants out. You're accusing him of jaking it, and Castillo has a reputation of being very competitive. I can't think of a more serious knock than that.

In fact, Francesa said the whole right side should go, including Jacobs, Tatis and Murphy, who hasn't even played yet.

Francesa's antipathy to Murphy is well-documented. I don't know what Murphy did to Mike -- raped his dog or killed his sister or took the last cruller at Dunkin' Donuts -- but he HATES Murphy. The guy, at 24, in his first full season above AA (not AAA), hit 12 homers, drove in 63 runs, hit .266 and had 38 doubles. He's a gap hitter in a gap-hitter's park. But Francesa finds it completely unreasonable that (a) Murphy's numbers (and defense, which wasn't bad) might actually improve with experience and (b) the Mets could win with a first baseman who only hits between 15-20 homers. Despite the fact that Murphy -- who is only a placeholder for Davis anyway -- would be expected to be a complementary player behind the true run-producers in Reyes, Wright, Bay, Beltran and Francoeur. Whatever.

But what really gets me mad is not the media or the radio hosts, but my fellow fans. So many of them have bought into the sad-sack, woe-is-us, here-we-go-again, Omar-sucks, Jerry-must-go, why-are-we-still-hurt mentality that I am reacting to them as if they were (gulp) Yankees fans.

They might as well be. I was at last Thursday's loss to the Marlins and the two guys sitting behind me were your typical, cynical, overly sarcastic Mets fans, who had something bad to say about just about everyone and everything, and felt the need to say it loud enough so that everyone around could hear just how witty they were. It was as if they were pretending they were hosting their own talk show.

I wanted to tell them to leave if it was that bad. Why are you here? Go to the Bronx. Better yet, become a Cubs fan, or a Pirates fan, or a Royals fan, and let me know how that works out for you.

There are 155 games left in the season. Yes, there are holes while Beltran and Murphy are out, but the problems so far have been starting pitching and a slow start hitting. There's plenty of time to turn things around. It is only April 14.

Seven games, people. Relax. Please.

Guess we can shake up that lineup now

Wednesday's night extra-inning loss to the Marlins was one of those weird games. You felt good that the Mets came back from a five-run deficit, until you realized that the Mets made up that gap without actually getting any RBI hits.

The Marlins did everything they could to give the Mets the win, including walking and balking in two runs to tie the score in the bottom of the eighth, after Ricky Nolasco dominated for six innings. But the Mets gave Florida a gift of its own when Fernando Tatis tried to score on a not-that-wild pitch with two outs, the bases loaded and David Wright at the plate. Not a smart play.

So the Mets look to win the series Thursday night with Jon Niese on the hill, and with lefty Nate Robertson starting for Florida, there is a pretty good chance that Mike Jacobs will be on the bench. Unless Jerry Manuel wants to break up all those righties!

Jacobs looked awful again for most of game two, striking out twice in three at-bats before singling in the eighth. Of course, he gets some credit for sliding hard into second base, perhaps affecting the wild throw by Dan Uggla that scored Wright. But otherwise, Jacobs has looked like the player we all know him to be -- a free swinger who rips at everything and strikes out a ton.

I other words, a black hole in the cleanup spot.

I'll be at the game, so I'm hoping to see Angel Pagan in center and leading off, with a 3-4-5-6 of Wright-Bay-Francoeur-Tatis. Line up those right-handed hitters, Jerry!

As for Jennry Mejia, Keith Hernandez made an excellent point, noting that in his day, he paid close attention to how the young players striving to prove themselves or win a roster spot pitched, adding that the veterans gave him nothing. Florida has seen Mejia pitching at his best, and seen him a lot thanks to the spring training schedule. So when it was time to play for reals, they know exactly how to attack him.

You like to see the 97 on the gun, and maybe it was debut-night jitters, but Mejia's performance did nothing to alter the opinion of those -- myself included -- who think that Majia is better off in the minors, working on developing as a starter.

Which, looking at the rotation now, may be a much bigger need this season than bullpen help.

John Maine, hopefully, just needs some time to get comfortable and back to where he was prior to 2009. The fastball just was not there. He needs it back.