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In last night’s win over the Nationals, John Maine allowed one run and three base runners in the first inning, but rebounded to allow just one run through the next six more innings while striking out four.
Billy Wagner on Maine:
“I think he came to camp thinking he needed to be so much better than he needs to be…I remember me and [Schoeneweis] talking to him and saying, ‘Hey, have fun.’…Don’t make it tougher than it already is, and put pressure on yourself to hit spots and stuff like that. I said, ‘Just go out there and try to make quality pitches, if you do good, if you don’t, move on to the next guy.’ There’s too much to try to sit there and worry about if you’re trying to worry about every pitch and every situation, just go out there and face them one at a time.”
Brian Schneider on Mane:
“I was worries, because he was getting his pitch count up early. But, he settled in to a pretty good rhythm. He got some quick outs, some nice double plays. Overall, I know he wasn’t happy with it, he was frustrated in the end, he couldn’t finish out the seventh inning, but overall, he got his first win and I was happy with the way things turned out. Obviously, we got the win and that’s all that matters.”
…no one asked, and he’d never say, but my best is that this type out of outing from maine is exactly what Willie Randolph had hoped to get from Oliver Perez earlier in the week, and didn’t, and is why willie was so upset with ollie…maine was on the ropes, but buckled down, pitched small, commanded the inning and then got back on track…ollie can do this, but doesn’t do it enough…
Who is Shoney?
I’d assume he’s referring to Schoenweiss
You have to remember, Billy is fluent in hickspeak… how else to you sign with an agent named Bean Stringfellow?
Remember that Ollie Perez got roughed up by a hot-hitting Brewer team, whereas John Maine managed to hold down the anemic Nats.
I don’t understand why everyone, including Willie, is so down on Ollie. We know he’s inconsistent… he’s been that way through his career. Willie was so quick to jump all over him in his second start, where even though he was wild, he gave up NO runs. He was effectively wild, and Willie didn’t like that.
He couldn’t hit his spots in his last start, and instead of Willie taking the blame for just not realizing that Ollie didn’t have it that day, he left him in and the team paid the price.
Ollie is not always gonna be effective… neither is Santana or anyone else. Get used to it. I have. Willie has to, unless it’s Ollie, apparently.
You are right that sometimes players don’t have it. However, Perez was given a 4-run lead after that inning. As the old saying goes “the most important inning is the one after you score.”
Trust me I’m the biggest Ollie fan but he can drive you up the wall sometimes. One inning he looks better than Johan and the next he looks like Jeff Damico. I also thought Willie was a little to harsh on him but Ollie needs to learn that it is almost required now to get into the 6th or 7th inning. He has too good of stuff to not be able to.
Hopefully he bounces back with a dominating performance in Philly and then all is forgiven.
good point about randolph being miffed with perez. your team hands you a 4 run lead, an old schooler like randolph wants to see you put it in the bag and finish it. perez did the exact opposite.
some of the pundits suggest it’s unfair to judge perez so harshly, but that’s BS IMO.
time to step up oliver. it’s time to become a main cog, not just a side show.
maine is doing that.
I’m not a professional baseball player (obviously), but the way I see it, the game is about making adjustments. True, against a better, or hotter, hitting team, Maine might have been knocked out the box last night, but he wasn’t, and he adjusted, doing what he needed to do to get things done.
I think its the same thing with hitters–they adjust and pick up a hit the 2nd or 3rd time facing a pitcher. The really great ones–I’m thinking Albert Puljos here–someone seem to adjust within an at-bat.
That seems to be Ollie’s big problem. When he doesn’t “have” it, he doesn’t seem to be able to compensate; when something happens that’s not in his game plan–an error to prolong an inning, a solo shot when he’s been cruising–it doesn’t seem to know how to approach it from a new angle, and panics.
I think he’s figuring it out though.