PANIC! At the Ballpark

Oh boy. Losing your #2 starter in the 4th inning of his first start of the year is not fun. Especially when you already have another pitcher on the DL (El Duque), and he is being replaced by your former first round pick (Pelfrey, aka Tongue). Is it time to Panic? Well, based on all the newspaper reports and Buster Olney, yes. Based on my gut, no.

Why not Ed you ask? Why shouldn't we panic? Pedro heard a pop. He's 36. Pelfrey has done nothing, we have no idea what El Duque is going to be able to give us. We have no depth in AAA or hell, even AA. If ever there was a time to panic, it is now.

Well, it's quite simple. We still have, in Johan, Ollie and John, 3 starters who can each win at minimum 15 games (and odds are, each will go over). El Duque will come back shortly, and be able to fill the void. Pelfrey is another question. If we get the Pelfrey from the end of last season, we will be fine. If we get the early 2007 Pelfrey, well, then we got problems.

Let's go into the wayback machine to 2006. Does everyone remember how many starters we used that year? Pedro missed time. Trachsel missed time. Lima got starts. Alay Soler. Bannister got a few. J(G)eremi(y, e, what way is he spelling it now?) got starts. It was a veritable cornucopia of arms. And some of them sucked.

So that's part one of why I say it is NOT time to panic. We've been here before, and muddled through.

So what's the second reason. It's quite simple. BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW HOW LONG PEDRO IS GOING TO BE OUT! The results of the MRI aren't in. Hell, he hasn't even taken it yet. Until we know the severity of the injury, it is silly to get worked up. Let the media panic. Let Buster Olney act like an ass on BBT. For all we know, he tweaked it and he will miss the month of April, or 4 starts. Fine. Will it suck, sure. But then we still have May - September. Add to that, we have an even more rested Pedor for that stretch and then the playoffs.

Now, if it is a major injury, feel free to Panic. I probably will. But you know what? There is still enough talent on this team to be able to overcome the injury. It is time for Mike Pelfrey to put up or shut up. He had a chance this spring, he had the #5 spot by the short hairs, and he punted. Well Mike, you have another shot. Show everyone why you were drafted so high.

Last thing on Pedro, if I'm him, I want Willie changing the rotation so he no longer has to pitch in that park. He has awful luck there the past couple of seasons. First the hip, now this.

Last night was a loss. The good, well, they came back from 4 runs down to force extras. Pagan had a key hit. Schneider went 3-4. Church had a hit. Only Beltran failed to get a hit. Sho had to face a righty, yet got him out (someone please tell Willie that this does not prove Sho can get them out regularly). Willie then pulled Sho in favor of Joe Smith, who completed the inning and looked like the Joe Smith from early last year. Sosa did a good job replacing Pedro. Heilman was great again, for two innings.

The bad, well, Matt Wise giving up a 1st career homer to a 6' 170 lb shortstop. With two outs. Not good.

Tonight, Ollie takes the hill against Andrew Miller. Let's go Ollie!