Dugout Central: DelGrippo: Forget Pitch Counts; Mets Need to Let Santana and Perez Loose

Just like their ligaments…

The Mets should forgo pitch counts for the balance of the season when Santana pitches and allow him to go the distance. With the division race (remember when it was the Pennant race?) likely going down to the wire again with the Phillies (and possibly the Marlins, too), the Mets need to win every one of Santana’s last eight or nine starts.

Santana has pitched very effectively in almost every start for six or seven innings. Jerry Manuel needs to let him know that his job description has been changed and that he needs to go eight or nine. With the Mets bullpen blowing another lead Monday afternoon, there is no reason for Manuel to ever pull Santana in favor of mediocre middle relievers like Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez.

The same principle should apply to Oliver Perez. In his last 10 starts, Perez has gone 4-2 with a 2.19 ERA and, more importantly, the Mets are 8-2. Still, in those 10 starts, Perez has been allowed to average just 6.2 innings per. This is unacceptable given the state of the bullpen. He is much better a pitcher than any of the relievers mentioned above. It’s very likely Perez won’t return to the Mets next season, so Manuel needs to treat him like a rental player – similar to Sabathia. Let Perez go 120+ pitches every game and get through eight or more innings.