The LTJ Editorial: “Starting Pitchers going the extra mile”

“The LTJ Editorial”
Author: Luis Tirado Jr.
Date: 5-17-13
Twitter: @LTJ81

“Starting Pitchers going the extra mile”

I often enjoy hearing stories from older baseball fans. You know, those old guys sitting in front of corner stores or even on their own front yard on lawn chairs. Those old guys who reminisce about the older days of baseball that can tell you facts you never knew about until they told you about it. They share all their stories about stolen bases, home runs leaving the stadium, and when real men played the game they loved with no remorse about tomorrow. They didn’t care if they bruised their knees stealing base, got a splinter from a broken bat, ran into a wall face first, or pitched for an entire game with some shoulder discomfort. Not worried about if their “arm” was going to be sore for their next start. Nope, not in those golden days of old school rugged baseball.

One story I always keep hearing about is when Starting Pitchers would often disregard the “out before the 7th” rule. These days, very few starting pitchers go past seven innings for fear of injuries, fatigue, or the famous wear and tear of pitching for that long in a game. I’ve always believed that the pitcher should have some kind of say when it comes to when his time has come. If he is producing outs and is in a particular pitching rhythm, why take him out? After all, the goal is to win games, not replacing your starting pitcher who is red hot because you think he will be broken for the rest of the season.

To me, one glaring issue isn’t just our bullpen, it’s our starting pitching. Disregarding P Matt Harvey, every other pitcher can’t seem to get up to the 7th inning without issues, being taken out, or fatigue. This is a big reason why the NY Mets have been in such a losing slump. We lost tight games because of pitching (hitting is a whole other issue, let’s save that for a future article) and not being able to pitch effectively to end innings. P Shawn Marcum seems to be having the most problems with that, except for one decent outing, he couldn’t make it to the 5th inning without being taken out because he wasn’t getting the job done. I’m not sure why the pitching is what it is at the moment, but one thing for sure is some kind of change needs to happen as soon as possible. We can’t keep losing games by two runs or less and in some cases, getting blown out. Despite our anemic offense, pitching wins games. If our own starting pitchers keep getting pulled out just a few innings in, not even the “Gotham Knight” Matt Harvey can get us enough wins to at least compete in the NL East this year. I know most writers say the Mets have no chance at the Playoffs this year and to wait until 2014. I always want my team in the playoffs, but so far this year, I just want to have these guys play with heart, determination, and have a no nonsense attitude. Get the job done or go down to the minors and fix your issues for the benefit of the team.

Niese, Gee, Marcum, and Hefner need a wake up call. Work on technique, delivery, and most of all, continuity! I would make them watch old Mets tape on guys like Doc Gooden or even Tom Seaver to see how to pitch with determination and get through innings with ferocity. There is no room anymore to accept mediocre pitching performances and giving them an early exit from finishing the job. Just like I said in my last Editorial, if a player starts to perform bad on a consistent basis, send them down to AAA. There is nothing more humbling to simply be given a “reboot” to get things in order. I said the same thing for Ike Davis and he continues to get worst. Give him a demotion, send him to AAA to fix whatever batting issues he has and when he improves to the major league level, call him back up. I would do the same with our starting pitchers to be quite honest. If you get the call to be replaced in the top of the 4th inning consistently, after that game is over I would get you on the soonest type of transportation to AAA. We’ll see who shapes up or ships out. But they, these are the thoughts going through my head because one day, you’ll see me telling stories outside my front porch about how Matt Harvey got his first perfect game…….