Terry Collins believes that part of the problem with the team’s bullpen is because the starting rotation is failing to go deep into games. He says it has been putting an incredible strain on all of his relievers. Ya think?

Aside from Matt Harvey and Jon Niese, who combined are averaging over six innings per start, the rest of the rotation has been averaging 4.2 innings per start. Case in point was yesterday afternoon, when Shaun Marcum lasted just four innings, forcing the Mets bullpen to pitch five innings.

When you take Harvey and Niese out of the equation, the cupboard is bare and that’s why the Mets bullpen has a National League worst 5.28 ERA which also ranks second worst in the majors.

The Mets bullpen has allowed 45 earned runs in 76.2 innings pitched this season.

Don’t just blame the rotation however, this bullpen is bad. Eleven teams have logged more innings than the Mets, and their ERA’s are all lower.

The Pirates’ pen has logged a league high 91.0 innings already. But they also have an incredible 2.47 ERA for the season. The Bucs have allowed just 25 earned runs compared to the Mets’ 45.

“I completely agree with Terry Collins.”

The late, great George Plimpton had written an article for that particular issue called “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch”.  In the article, Plimpton went on to discuss how Finch was a rookie who was invited to Mets’ spring training because he possessed a 168 MPH fastball.  The backstory on Finch was as incredible as the blazing fastball.  Alas, the story was just an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke.

Astute readers who paid close attention to the subheading of the article (“He’s a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd’s deciding about yoga.”) would have noticed that the first letter of each word in the subheading spelled out “Happy April Fools Day”.

With references to former Mets pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and former Mets centerfielder Lenny Dykstra, many readers believed the article to be a true story, when in fact, Plimpton and the Mets organization collaborated on the hoax.

Now it’s time to jump into the DeLorean and come back from 1985 to the present day.  The 2010 Mets are struggling with their starting rotation.  After Johan Santana, the rotation is full of question marks.  John Maine is pencilled in as the #2 starter behind Santana, but he’s coming off an injury-plagued season and after “hurling” his final pitch, had to leave today’s Grapefruit League game against the Nationals with a particularly bad stomach virus.

Jonathon Niese is unproven in the major leagues, but has shown enough to Jerry Manuel for him to proclaim Niese as his #3 starter.  Is this a testament to Niese’s ability or is this Manuel’s way of saying he doesn’t trust Mike Pelfrey (#4 in the rotation) and Oliver Perez (numero cinco) enough to insert them behind Santana and Maine?  Both Pelfrey and Perez are coming off awful seasons and neither pitcher has performed well in Spring Training.

It’s too bad Sidd Finch was only an imaginary character.  With all the question marks surrounding the Mets rotation in 2010, I’d take my chances on an imaginary pitcher before sending anyone not named Santana out to the mound.

Side note:  The Sidd Finch article wasn’t the only Mets-related bit of news that happened 25 years ago today.  On this day in 1985, Mets first baseman Daniel Murphy was born.  Happy 25th birthday, Daniel!  Just please don’t aggravate your injury when you blow out your candles.

K-Rod had a nice season, but his dip from 62 saves in Los Angeles the year before to 35 with the Mets was both a reflection on the Mets having a bad season and him being a bit inconsistent.  His 3.71 ERA was also way inflated from his 2.24 mark the previous season.  Putz was pitching pretty well before blowing out an elbow and being put on the DL about a third of the way into the 2009 season.  And Parnell was great at times, and a gas can at others.

So now, how do you feel knowing that K-Rod is coming off a sub-par season, with Parnell, Kelvim Escobar, Jose Feliciano, Sean Green, Pat Misch and Ryota Igarashi behind him?  On paper, this bullpen is almost as much of a question mark as the starting rotation is.  That’s not to say they can’t overachieve and keep the team in games, but how likely is that?  And the rotation is not exactly the kind of group that will give the bullpen long stretches of rest at a time.  To the contrary, they will be called upon to pitch 2-3 innings each night.

So I ask you, how do you all feel about this bullpen?

Let’s face it, every baseball fan loves opening day, not just because it’s a prelude to summer, but because every team is on a level playing field in the standings and anything can happen.  Well, anything can happen within reason. As Mets fans, we’ve seen bad baseball over the years.  Remember when the team was so bad that they needed to fabricate a slogan, “The Magic is Back?”  It was laughable, but at one point that team (I think it was in 1980?) reeled off like 10 or 12 wins in a row, and the players started to believe that slogan even though they were woefully over-matched on the field.

The 2010 team is very much like the 2009 team, but hopefully without all the injuries.  Still, there are a few holes—most of the starting rotation, parts of the bullpen, second base, catcher and first base are question marks.  But really, if someone offered you Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and K-Rod to start a team, you’d do that in a heartbeat, right?  We have to hope everyone stays healthy and plays to their potential–big ifs, but there could be big payoffs too.

Stranger things have surely happened, and I’m just glad spring is here and we’re talking real baseball again.  Now let’s do our best to strike some fear in the Phillies and the rest of the division.

Which brings me to this next piece I just found in the New York Daily News from last week, as John Harper asked Mets’ ace Santana what he thought of the guys who will follow him in said rotation.  Talk about glass half full.  For kicks, let’s compare what Santana said in the article to what I would say.

OLIVER PEREZ

Johan S: I saw a different Ollie (at minicamp three weeks ago). He’s hungry. He still needs to be Ollie Perez, the guy who has fun, but seeing him very positive, very challenging now, I’m expecting a lot from him. His knee is healthy, too. People don’t know there were times last year he wasn’t even able to walk on it.

Mikey J: If Omar Minaya backed up a Brinks truck to the East River and shoveled out $36 million into the water, we would say he was crazy, right?  Giving that amount to Ollie P over three years was stupid, so apparently Minaya would rather be stupid than crazy.

MIKE PELFREY

Johan S: He’s got the stuff to be great. Man, if I had his stuff, oh, my God. That sinker that he throws at 95, it’s unbelievable. It’s a matter of consistency and being more mature, and I really believe he’s a more mature pitcher after feeling like he had to step in for me (late) last season.

Mikey J: Um, Big Pelf had a very average season, and he didn’t step into anything.  And dude just couldn’t stop licking himself.  No guy who wants to aspire to even be the temporary #1 pitcher gets the “yips” and balks three times in an inning.  Oh wait, there’s Rick Ankiel.  Anyway, if Johan really did have Pelfrey’s stuff, he would be saying “oh my God!” for real.

JOHN MAINE

Johan S: Being pain-free makes all the difference. That thing in his shoulder, he couldn’t pitch with it. He’s got the stuff and he’s got the mentality, and now he’s healthy again.

Mikey J: Hearing John Maine is “healthy again” is like hearing that Brett Favre is “ready to retire” from the NFL.  But Maine will give us a quality 75 to 150 innings before spending August and September on the DL again.

Thanks, Johan.  We are glad you are optimistic and look forward to you being one of the team’s few bright spots.  And we thank you for not wanting to go back to Minnesota just yet.

The Mets are off to a 6-8 start, are you disappointed with how things are going right now?

Definitely. Although I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by their early performance, it’s still disappointing to experience. The sad part is I don’t see an easy way out right now given the current makeup of the rotation after Johan Santana.

What do you think of the new ballpark? Better than the new Yankee Stadium?

Citi Field is a wonderful throwback to the old parks of baseball’s golden era. It’s unique in many ways and has plenty of character and charm. I’m not sure what to make of the new Yankee Stadium yet. It seems to be more of a temple than a ballpark and for the $500 million dollars more that it cost to build, I still prefer Citi Field for my money. If they were going to have it look so similar to previous versions of Yankee Stadium, why didn’t they just renovate and modernize instead of spending all that money?

Six Mets starters are hitting above .300 coming into this series, what are your thoughts on how the line up is working right now?

It’s not working at all right now, but if those averages hold, it will eventually get better simply because it has to. Manuel just decided to change things up a little with the batting order, and that might finally get things moving in the right direction.

John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Mike Pelfrey have struggled; do you see them turning it around this year?

Here’s the thing, predicting performance is so hard to figure out because there’s so much stuff you have to consider. But the Mets knew Maine was coming back from shoulder surgery, and they certainly understood they were playing with fire when they increased Pelfrey’s workload last season and he has already missed a start. They knew how wildly inconsistent Oliver Perez was when they resigned him. You can gamble on one of those situations, but the Mets gambled on all three. Maybe Maine can turn it around, maybe Pelfrey will too, but all three?

What do you think the Mets will have to do to be successful against Nats in the coming series?

Hit with runners in scoring position, get to the Nationals bullpen early, and make sure that their starters all throw strikes.

How do you see the Mets finishing this season?

It’s too early to hit the panic button, so I have to believe they will win the division. But, I’m making an assumption that the Mets will come to their senses and make a deal for Jake Peavy, Roy Halladay or another top of the rotation pitcher.

What moves do they need to make?

I answered that question above, but if I was to pick another area I would say they need a masher like Carlos Lee or Jermaine Dye in leftfield. There’s a lot to like about Daniel Murphy, but he has no power and the Mets are having trouble driving in runs. Plenty of guys getting on base, but nobody is driving them in.

If they are in the same position they have been in the last two years, on top of the NL East at the beginning of September, do you think they have the make up to keep it together this time?

If the Mets go into September with a lead of 7 or more games, they will win the division. The only significant move Omar Minaya made this off season was to ensure that a bullpen collapse will not happen again. He ignored a few other important things, but he did get that one thing right by acquiring K-Rod and Putz.