2011- Gallardo allowed 5 or more runs 6 times
6 or more runs 4 times
7 or more runs 2 times

2010- 5 or more 5 times
6 or more 5 times
7 or more twice

2012- 5 or more twice
6 or more twice
7 or more once

The error doesn't help either.

No, it doesn't. But a finger in the ears look at ERA, and it showing a fat "0" for that effort, doesn't really give you the full picture either.

Look, I know I'm slanting everything against Miggy here. But again, I find a big problem with "pitched into the 6th, 2 ER" being the narrative from his outing yesterday. There has to be some examination of the process, not just a very narrow look at one particular "result" (earned runs allowed) that often doesn't tell us much moving forward.

I think the point, MJ, is not that Miguel Batista is good, but that yesterday he was OK enough to keep us from getting blown out. Obviously things could have been different, but they weren't, and he certainly made some improvements as the game went on, because he was awful in the first 2 innings.

I meant the error that Batista committed (as it certainly doesn't help his case).

I think the issue is... it's not as if we have a legit starter on the DL. Chris Young... who knows what he can give you? Batista making 4-5 starts is one thing but who exactly is he holding the fort for?

Only because of things out of his control, which is my point.

He didn't miss bats, like Schwinden.

They left the yard, like against Schwinden.

He put the team in an early hole that, probability-wise, should have lost them the game early, like Schwinden.

11 guys reached base vs. 16 outs recorded. Schwinden allowed 16 baserunners in exchange for 24 outs recorded.

Examine the process. The game result is writing the narrative here.

This is my concern. We're depending on a guy whose arm has to be stitched back on every four starts (resulting in a year of rehab each time) and an extremely promising guy who clearly needs more time in the minors (which would be even more clear if it weren't for the previous organization wanting a shiny new toy and giving said prospect some time in the bigs during which he put up a respectable ERA and some ugly peripherals).

I really think we've covered most of what there is to cover on this topic.

But I get the sense you're arguing against someone who's saying Batista is good. No one's saying that.

But someone has to take the start every 5th day and the Mets don't have the option of turning to someone else at this particular point (technically, they could turn to someone else, but not someone likely to do well).

All TC has said is that Batista will get another start. Every time he goes out there and doesn't get blown out, they get to kick the can five games farther down the road (in this case, they got a win. Lucky or not, the decision to start Batista did not hurt a bit in the only area where it really counts).

I feel pretty comfortable that if he has a start or two where his bad peripherals catch up with him, they'll move on, same way they did with Schwinden.

Is that the ideal way to go? No and I've been one of the critics of the FO for putting us in this situation. But they and we are stuck until enough time passes for someone better to come along.

Well, I did say he was awful early on, then settled into the role as the game went on. He allowed 7 of those baserunners in the first two innings, and 8 of the 10 outs he recorded the rest of the way were ground balls. So he wasn't much worse than the results dictated -- and keep in mind that he had to get an extra out in the 2nd inning.

Again, 4 runs in 5.1 innings isn't good, but 2 earned looks much better, and who knows what would've happened had Valdespin made a good throw, maybe he gets out of the inning unscathed. He was decent; awful early, then he settled in and pitched pretty darn well over the rest of the night. Doesn't make up for the first two innings, but I can live with 4 runs before handing it off to the bullpen, compared to what Schwinden did (pretty sure he gave up more HRs than strikeouts and didn't get many ground balls) or what Batista was a few weeks ago when he started against San Fran.