28
2010
The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Maine
An article by 
Since becoming a Met in 2006, John Maine has shown signs of greatness, such as his near no-hitter against the Marlins on the next-to-last day of the 2007 season. However, he has never been able to maintain the consistent level of pitching that a pitcher of his talent needs to be a top of the rotation starter.
Never was this more apparent than during his 2009 season. In fact, you might say Maine’s home and away splits last year suggest a case of the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome.
After losing his first start at Citi Field in 2009 to the San Diego Padres on April 16, John Maine took the mound at his home park six more times. These are the lines for those six starts:
- April 27 vs. FLA: 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 4 K
- May 9 vs. PIT: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K
- May 25 vs. WAS: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K
- May 31 vs. FLA: 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K
- September 20 vs. WAS: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
- October 2 vs. HOU: 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 7 K
Maine’s totals over those six starts were outstanding. In 36 innings pitched, he gave up only three earned runs for a microscopic 0.75 ERA. He also allowed 18 hits and walked 11 batters, giving him a 0.81 WHIP.
Even if you include his performance in the April 16 loss to the Padres, Maine’s overall numbers at Citi Field remained eye-popping. For the season, Maine was 6-1 with a 1.95 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP at home.
Although Mets pitchers allowed 81 home runs to opposing batters in 81 home games, Maine barely contributed to that number. In his seven starts at Citi Field, Maine gave up one measly home run.
Clearly, John Maine performed at his Dr. Jekyll-like best when toeing the rubber at Citi Field. However, all it took was a change in venue for Maine to make his Mr. Hyde-like transformation.
In eight starts away from Citi Field, Maine compiled a 1-5 record, with a bloated 6.92 ERA and an embarrassing 1.64 WHIP. He gave up seven home runs on the road even though he pitched fewer innings in his road grays than he did in his home whites (41.0 IP at Citi Field, 40.1 IP on the road).
Even his sole road victory in 2009 wasn’t particularly impressive. On May 4 at Turner Field in Atlanta, Maine defeated the Braves. However, in his six innings of work, he gave up three runs, while allowing three hits and walking a whopping six batters. Fortunately, the Mets offense showed up in the 6-4 victory.
Three runs in six innings is acceptable, but not the six walks. Also, those three runs matched the total number of runs given up by Maine in his last six starts at Citi Field.
So which Maine will show up for the Mets in 2010? John claims to be fully recovered from his injury-shortened 2009 season. Will he regain his 15-victory form that he exhibited during the 2007 season, the year that featured his near no-hitter against the Marlins? Or will he continue to take one step forward and two steps back, all coinciding with his starts at home and on the road?
If he wants to escape from the Four Rainouts part of Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts, he’ll need to be Dr. Jekyll for 30-plus starts. Then the only transformation Maine will make is the one where he becomes an All-Star.
About the Author: Ed Leyro
Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.
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Thanks, Ed. I never realized that crazy split!
Does anybody, including Maine, know what explains this?
I’ve been long of the opinion that Maine was disserviced by the Peterson Knees methodology as his fastball has always had a natural high riding ability. Rising fastballs tend to rise into the wheelhouse area whenever they’re targeted for tyhe knees(strings) results tend to be long flies that perhaps were more catchable than souveneirs in Citi’s expanse as opposed to visitors’ more cramped confines. Ferw take note that Atlanta’s old Fulton County Stasdium had the second highest elevation above Sealevel than any field in NL.(obviously Coors id highest) With Turner Field built adjacent to the old park, it would seem elevation may also be a consieration yet not as obvious as cigarbox dimensions in Philly. Maine for one had the least exposure to Warthen after Peterson departed due to injury & as such, Warthen’s mantra of “I LOVE THE HIGH HARD ONE” that Maine should flourish under was least effective on him; but last yrs first “healthy” outing under Dan’s tutelage was promising Vs. Houston w/7IP,7K,5H, ’0′BB only 1R The WBC certainly curtailed the Warthen exposure for Perez. Hpfyully fewer pitches, in fewer BB from Maine will translate into mor 7-8 inning outings & greater success.
Rosenthal is stupid, mets in AL east????????http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/rosenthal-realignment-proposal-022510
Working hurt did not help John. I think now that he is healty he will excel. He also helps big Pelf as they are good friends and Pelf missed him last year.
I love maine’s bulldog mentality, the reality is he’s a 1 pitch pony, if he devlopes a better 2nd pitch to put away hitter or improve on his slider he’d be more than a 5 inning 100 pitch guy.. is tough to compiled inning when pretty much all the hitters u face get a 3-2 count coz they fouled a lot of the pitches.. if he had perez’ stuff wit his bulldog take no prisioner mentality he’d be a consistent 15+ game winner..
He’ll also need his bullpen to be strong to get back to the 15-win plateau. There are too many opportunities for a reliever to blow a lead Maine left them with if he can only pitch a maximum of six innings.
ALEX, THAT’S VERY TRUE UNDER pETERSONIZATION RULES THAT APPARENTLY INCLUDED:
+THOU SHALT NOT THROW A CURVEBALL
+TGHOU SHALL AIM EVERY FASTBALL @ OPPONENTS KNEES
Maine,only actively had Peterson rules to follow, he was first injured within just a few starts of Rick’s dismissal giving Warthen very little exposure until Maine’s last start in ’09.
(NB THE WBC INTERFERED WITH OLLIE’s TUTELAGE ALSO)
The only 2 directions I’ve heard in Warthen interviews were” They’ve got to throw strikes” and “I love a HIGH HARD ONE!”
The last statement should provide Maine with that elusive putaway pitch aimed properly at the belt rising to the letters or pits instead of the
Peterson mandate aimed at the strings(knees( rising to the wheelhouse
I agree that he will definitely benefit from Citi but I’m not ready to say he will be like this next year for two reasons. 1) Sample size. He didn’t pitch many games last year overall. 2) The teams he pitched against at Citi aren’t great lineups.
Absolutely bizarre. Even more bizarre is the fact that no one is talking about this or even noticing it. This is the first I am reading of the split. This may be the most lopsided home/away performance I have ever seen. Hopefully Maine will be ready to go come April and get back to having one of the best high fastballs around.