Tom Terrific

What does 7.04 represent?

A) Tom Glavine's K/9.
B) The length of my junk.
C) Tom Glavine's ERA.
D) How much I make an hour.
E) Victor Zambrano's BB/9

In Tom's six starts, the Mets found themselves behind in three of them after the first inning. The Mets have been outscored 7 - 1 in the first inning of all Tom's starts this year. Coming into yesterday's game, opponents had a line of .385/.543/.615 in the first inning. That 1.158 OPS is absolutely silly to see come at the expense of Tom Glavine.

              AB     HR    RBI   BB    AVG   OBP  SLG
Inning 1      26      1      8    9   .385  .543 .615
Innings 2-3   43      0      5    6   .233  .327 .256
              AB     HR    RBI   BB    AVG   OBP  SLG
Innings 1-3   58      0      8   11   .276  .386 .328
Innings 4-6   46      3     10    5   .370  .407 .587

Tom failed to make it out of the third inning in two of his six starts and did not complete at least five innings in three of his six starts. I wonder if Tom has any early retirement plans in the near future?

In reality Tom deserves a pass for a slow start. Some guys are struggling early that you know will right the ship a bit. Jamie Moyer is someone Met fans can look toward for some hope on why this soft tossing lefty could just be having a slow start. However, Tom has looked completely horrible. Since his arrival at Shea, Questec has been the focal point on perhaps why Tom Glavine is having a lackluster run as a Met. It could be, but the simple fact is umpires are simply not calling balls off the plate strikes with regularity these days. His performance hinges solely on the umpires calling his type of game. If Tommy is not getting balls off the plate called strikes, then he has no shot. He does not have the stuff at this point to rise above and keep himself in the game. He seems like he can no longer fight a tight zone and has lost a bit of his pinpoint control that is basically allowing him to serve up batting practice.

One thing that is a problem with him right now and has been for the last two years, is that he cannot pick up the team. When Reyes was doing his best Kaz Matsui impression last night kicking balls around, Tom does not really have the ability to pick the team up with a big K in those situations. Glavine is now leading the team in walks and has Victor Zambrano beat by a healthy five walks with 4.1 more innings pitched. Tom Glavine also leads any Met pitcher on the MLB roster in WHIP and ERA. The only guy who had higher numbers is no longer with the team.

Whether or not he turns it around is something we'll have to wait for. Judging by what he is showing and his age, it is scary. He simply is not 30 years old anymore. Like Randy Johnson and any other guy hovering around 40, at some point, you will lose it. At some point, you will not be able to compete on this level. You basically just hope that this loss of ability to compete in the majors does not happen while he is playing on your team. He is basically looks like a fifth starter now. If he gives you a good game you are excited. If he gives you innings, you are excited. However, not much is expected from him when he takes the mound. He was hitting 88-90 on the gun last night which should make his off speed more effective, but it did nothing. Zambrano can rest easy knowing he is no longer the worst pitcher on the staff.

* * *

How about Beltran's arm? Twice last night of what I saw, he threw strikes on a fly to David Wright. One on Rollin's double in which he took a big turn heading towards third, and one on a Mike Lieberthal bluff to tag up.

Then in the third, the nailed a Philly runner to prevent the Mets from having a 9 - 0 hole to climb out of in the top of the fourth.

Anyone see the pre-game on MSG? What the hell is up with Brett Myers' smile? The thing looked like it was surgically implanted in his face.

Cliffy has to have one of the fastest hands in the game. The guy gets the bat through the zone so fast and his absolutely punishing the ball. He now has the 2nd longest hitting streak in Met history for left handed batters.

What is the deal with Wright batting behind Meintkiewicz? Doug is slumping right now and it creates an imbalanced lineup, which would have been Willie's only excuse to put Doug there. Minor thing, but enough is enough. Get Wright higher in the lineup whenever you can. When Piazza sits, which is a lot, you can move him up. I've seen enough of Woodward getting the nod or Doug getting nod over him in the sixth spot. Unreal.

Kris Benson will be a welcome site on the mound on Thursday.

Jose Reyes finally did it, drawing a four-pitch walk in the ninth inning for his first walk of the season. But since it came at the tail end of a 10-3 thumping, the Mets did not get him the ball or the base, as manager Willie Randolph had said they might do.

Reyes had a rough night in the field and Randolph said he's likely to rest him tonight. "He's been playing a lot," Randolph said. "His legs looked a little heavy tonight."

Don't look at #13. To think, he was basically a throw in.

Good stuff.