Optimism taking a holder- Schmoozer's Monologue, Pitch Counts, and Baseball

So it's rather hard to be optimistic these days about the mets. So, besides pelfrey yesterday there isn't much to say on that matter.

So coming back from the gym i caught the bulk of steve somers' (aka "Schmoozer") monologue on the radio. And his rant was against pitch counts.

Both Pelfrey and Santana were dominating, he said, in the typical schmooze impassioned voice. Yet both were taken out due to pitch counts! Same with Maine the previous day he'd said.

Well, I thought about this, and it's an interesting question. I know there's been studies saying that certain pitchers' durability especially early on, involves limiting innings pitched and perhaps pitches themselves per start. That said...

Santana went 7 today. Why not give him 8 and 9? Santana is an ace who is a veteran. he also knows what to do when he starts losing his stuff late in starts. Shouldn't he have been fine?

Pelf gives up a hit in the 9th, fine. But he'd been dominant to that point. Why waste billy on that?

Maine looked mediocre through 5 with a large pitch count (100 pitches or so). But with a 5-1 lead, why couldn't we have let him, an experienced if not veteran starter try to go 6 to save the pen the extra inning and not tax the long reliever?

These are the questions that are asked. My responses are: 1. Yes. 2. No. 3. Not Sure.

Lets go by individual situations here. In santana's case, he was purely dominant, and has a record of dominance. moreover, as an ace pitcher, we've seen what he's able to do when he realizes early he doesn't have it on a particular day. That last bit is particularly important, for the only argument i can think of against it is that he might lose his stuff in the last 2 innings. And we've seen what he can do when he's losing it. In other words, a 2-0 lead should be perfectly safe for 2 innings, even with nonoptimum santana. And if his next start was hard on him, i'd believe he could get through it.

Roy Halladay pitches complete innings all the time, and while his pc isnt that high as santanas was, the point is that an Ace should be able to go 9 on a decent amount of occasions.

With Pelf, I liked willie's decision. Yes, Pelf just needed 3 more outs. But as a nonexperienced person in unknown territory, I'd rather he get the chance to go 1-2-3 with billy ready if he gives up a hit. which is what happened.

with Maine, I'm not sure. Schmooze is wrong on one point, Maine looked mediocre at best on Tuesday (I was there). Still, with a 4 run lead, im not sure it was worth wasting a reliever for one more inning.

I need to think this one over more now.