Bartolo Colon took the mound yesterday afternoon at Citi Field to face the Pittsburgh Pirates, and struck out nine (including the 2,000th of his career), while scattering five hits and only allowing one walk over 7 and 1/3rd’s innings, earning the win.
Colon’s season thus far has been a mixed bag. There have been some outings this season where Colon has looked absolutely dominant, and then there are others where he just hasn’t fooled anybody up there.
However, Colon’s last two outings combined look like this: 15.1 innings pitched, two earned runs allowed, fourteen strikeouts, and only two walks.
This leads to the question: “Is Bartolo Colon finding his groove?” And the answer could most certainly be “yes.”
Last season in Oakland, Colon went 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA over 190.1 innings pitched, which earned him a two-year, $20 million dollar deal with the Mets this offseason.
This deal was widely criticized by fans – myself included – because it definitely seemed like an overpay for a 41-year old coming off what could definitely have been a fluky season.
However, the optimism in me thought that if everything broke right, and Colon had a similar season to his 2013 campaign in Oakland, we could flip him for a decent return before next season when Matt Harvey will return, and we will have a surplus of young arms competing for a spot on the team.
Right now, I’m not worried about that, though. If Colon can give us even half of what he did in Oakland, and keeps us in the game every time he pitches, I would be more than happy.
Let’s see what happens. Colon has had two solid outings in a row. Let’s see if he can keep it up when he pitches next in Philadelphia on Monday.
