Ron Chenoy – USATODAY Sports
In two of his last three starts, New York Mets‘ pitcher Dillon Gee has been chased from the game in the early innings, setting the Mets up to lose each game without much of a chance. If the Mets are going to stay above .500 and hang around in the NL East, they’re going to need a much better effort out of Gee on a consistent basis.
There were concerns about Gee coming into the season after he missed the second half of the 2012 season due to a blood clot in his shoulder and then struggled during spring training. However, Gee was great in his first start of the season against the San Diego Padres, as his past problems seemed to be behind him. That made the Mets starting rotation appear to be a strength of the team, and Gee appeared to be a big reason why. But in his last two starts against the Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies, Gee has gotten knocked around. Against the Phillies, he barely got out of the first inning and ended up pitching just three innings. Against the Rockies, Gee cruised through four innings, but completely lost his control in the fifth and couldn’t finish the inning. Gee is a much better pitcher than he showed in those two starts, and the Mets need him to get back on track and pitch like the guy they had the first half of last year.
The issue for the Mets is that Gee is no longer their fifth starter. With injuries to Johan Santana and Shaun Marcum in spring training, Gee is now the Mets’ third starter, which brings a lot more responsibility than being the fifth starter. If he were still their fifth starter, the Mets could live with Gee having a few bad outings, but the back end of their rotation is already bad enough without Gee adding to their problems.
After two bad starts in a row, there is a lot of pressure on Gee to get things turned around quickly. Until there’s better stability in their rotation, the Mets are going to need to get more out of Gee. He’s the third best starter they have right now, and he needs to starting pitching like it.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google+.
