eMailbag: Can I Get an Explaination?
An anonymous reader of MetsBlog sent in an e-mail, asking:
“Can I get an explanation on why when Oliver Perez gets two outs and looks like he might get through the inning, Willie takes him out. That’s gotta make Perez feel awful that Willie takes him out like that right after he gets two outs! Last
year, if Tom Glavine had the same exact game going, willie definitely keeps him in there for the final out, he cant say he treats his player the same…Also I need an explanation as to why Willie won’t give Heilman and Sosa a rest…they can’t pitch every game.”
…i think it’s fairly obvious at this point that willie would rather push a player through a slump than sit him down…i don’t like this philosophy, and i sense most fans agree…as i said the other day, like with Carlos Delgado, it may help to just take a breather and have them clear their minds…
…heilman’s problem, though, isn’t rest, from what i understand…it’s that he is over-using his change-up, not keeping his fastball down and he’s not using his slider enough…i mean, he threw a 96–mph fastball last night, which is impressive, but it was four feet off the plate, which is not impressive…
…willie clearly believes that by running him out there, heilman will get it together…the thing is, while i may not know a better approach, i think it’s safe to say that this one being used by willie is not working…
…as for perez…i guess you and i were watching two different games…perez was coming totally apart on the mound…and this isn’t the first time that this has happened…it’s actually becoming a habit with him…he’s staked to a lead, cruising, he walks a batter and then all hell breaks loose…i actually give willie credit for pulling him…the problem is that this occurs so early in the game, relief pitchers then have to be married beyond a point when they should be removed from the game…i mean, if a starting pitcher starts to implode in the seventh, instead, Scott Schoeneweis can pitch to one batter, instead of needing him to pitch a full inning or two, and so on, and so maybe Jorge Sosa and heilman can actually get some rest…
…notice how this is rarely a problem when Johan Santana pitches…not just because santana has great stuff, but because he commands the game in a way that gets him and his team in a position to play from their strengths – even if he does not have his best stuff…this is not to say that John Maine, Oliver Perez, etc, must go out and win Cy Youngs, it means they need to command their innings better so to give willie more options and to allow the bullpen more breathing room to do what it does best…
