Waiting for Orlando
Most of the Mets remember Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez from his days in pinstripes, but there's really no predicting how he will perform for them now that it looks like his first start will be Sunday against the Marlins in Miami.
"When he was with the Yankees, it was always tough facing him because he had so many arm angles," Carlos Beltran said. "When he takes the mound, you've got to kill him."
Beltran was referring to El Duque's uncanny ability to slip free of trouble, and that elusiveness had more to do with his knowledge of pitching than a blistering fastball or baffliing changeup. It's all about pacing with Hernandez, and if he can still keep hitters off balance, than he should do a good job for the Mets.
"I think experience plays a big role when you come to a place like this," Carlos Delgado said. "He knows what he's going to run into."
Added Tom Glavine, "We can use some help in that area. Hopefully he can recapture some of the magic that he had. So many people were waiting for us to get a No. 1 starter type of guy, but I don't think that's necessary yet."
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Comments (1)
You have to look at it this way.
A few weeks ago the rotation was Pedro, Glavine, Trax, a less than 100% Zambrano and an erratic Brian Bannister.
Now you add Soler who in one start already looked better than Bannister (against a better team than Bannister ever faced) and a guy with 9 career postseason victories and a 2.55 ERA.
A major upgrade here.
And don't worry about taking Julio out of the bullpen. He was at best our #5 guy which makes a much smaller difference than a #5 starter.