A review of the latest turn through the Mets’ starting rotation:
| Name | Innings | Hits | Runs (Earned Runs) | Strikeouts | Walks | ERA (Season) | WHIP (Season) |
| Matt Harvey (0-2) | 6.0 | 6 | 3(3) | 3 | 2 | 4.63 | 1.543 |
| Steven Matz (0-1) | 1.2 | 6 | 7(7) | 1 | 2 | 37.80 | 4.80 |
| Noah Syndergaard (1-0) | 7.0 | 7 | 1(1) | 12 | 1 | 0.69 | 0.92 |
| Logan Verrett (0-0) | 6.0 | 3 | 0(0) | 6 | 2 | 1.29 | 1.00 |
| Bartolo Colon (1-1) | 5.1 | 8 | 2(2) | 5 | 1 | 2.13 | 1.18 |
Best Start: Noah Syndergaard was absolutely amazing, so much so that according to the broadcasters, Marlins hitting coach Barry Bonds informed his hitters to swing early in the count. That’s because if Thor reached two strikes, chances were more than likely that the Fish would get cooked with gas.
But the best start came from Logan Verrett. The 25-year old has a WHIP of 1.193 through all levels over the past five years since the Mets drafted him from Baylor. Twice, he was selected in the Rule 5 Draft (first by the Orioles, then the Rangers) and twice he was sent back to the Orange and Blue.
Anthony DiComo of MLB.com recently wrote about the importance of starters beyond the stating five that left Port St. Lucie. I thought it would be Sean Gilmartin, but the surplus of left-handed relievers meant keeping the right-handed Verrett as the swing/long man in the pen made more sense.
The decision paid off when Jacob deGrom suffered a stiff back and joined his wife Stacey to welcome Jaxon Anthony to the world on Monday. Verrett was ready, willing and able to shut down the Marlins for six innings. At only 75 pitches, one could argue Terry Collins should have left him in for the 7th, but the point was to go deep and give the pen some rest after…
Worst Start: This is a pretty easy one. Steven Matz looked good in the top of the first inning against the Marlins. Dee Gordon is the classic old-school slap/speed top of the lineup hitter that we haven’t had since Luis Castillo hit .302 with a .387 OBP in 2009. Matz got him to pop up to second on a 1-2 pitch. Marcell Ozuna grounded out to second, but Christian Yelich singled to bring up Giancarlo Stanton.
This is the reason to fear the Fish, but Matz overpowered the power hitter with a great fastball for a clean first inning. Maybe that’s the best you can expect from a young starter who’s had to sit on the shelf after a wonky opening week that saw the team play three games in six days.
Yeah, let’s use that as the excuse for our prized prospect getting pounded and not making it out of the second inning.
Best of the Bullpen: No one really stood out once the door opened in right field. In fact, Collins’ use of these arms has come into question and deservingly so. Jim Henderson shouldn’t have been called back out for the third straight appearance on Wednesday. Hansel Robles could have stayed in and finished the 7th inning, but instead that responsibility was handed to Jerry Blevins.
He got out of the jam and I’ll give him the proverbial prize for this week, despite allowing his first earned run in a Mets uniform. Coming back from injury, he’s proven his worth as something more than just a left-handed specialist.
But it’s almost like Collins wants to make the walk out instead of just letting people pitch. Antonio Bastardo hasn’t pitched well in a Mets uniform, but against Cleveland he retired the first four batters he faced on just 16 pitches. He wasn’t signed as a specialist, so why not leave him out there to face Mike Napoli? That would have given Hansel Robles the chance to start the eighth instead of just facing one batter and Addison Reed could have had the ninth.
It’s moves like this that add fuel to the “Fire Terry Collins” fire that’s perpetually on the proverbial back burner.
Next Big Thing: The team needs a starter to go deep and give the bullpen a rest. Either that or the offense scores enough runs that someone can pitch mop-up innings instead of high-pressure frames like the one Reed couldn’t complete on Friday night, requiring Jeurys Familia to forego an actual off-day for a sloppy one-out save.
So the question is which starter, not named Noah, do you think will have the best start this turn through the rotation?
