Walks Kill John Maine

From Dave at Mets Lifer (Network Member):

Where's John Maine and what have you done with him?

The ace of the staff in the first half of the season has disappeared. Instead John Maine has turned into a young Al Leiter struggling to keep his pitch count down in the early innings. Last night, Maine went to a 3-2 count with the first 3 batters of the game. Tough way to start.

Maine has also been plagued with home runs in his last couple of starts. This usually happens when his fastball doesn't tail up and ends up being a meatball right down the middle of the plate.

It's weird because against some batters he looks stellar or gets to an 0-2 count and then the batter gets a hit. I'm not sure if it's confidence that Maine is lacking or if it's mechanical, but I hope he figures it out. (quickly, please).

Maine's line last night wasn't horrible (5.2 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits) but it's far from stellar. And with the bullpen being the way it is we need John Maine to go deep into games in September.