Our pitching thus far

So after 4 starts from our pitchers, three of them have been good. Santana threw a gem, Maine struggled, Niese threw good and Pelfrey threw great. This is great to see after such questions in the off season about the rotation.

Maine didn't look good out there, but we'll chalk it up to his first start and wait for the second to assess it. Really nothing else to say.

Niese had a great outing for his first start after surgery posting 3 ERs in 6 IP. People are saying he's going to be the most consistent pitcher behind Santana and I'd love to see him step up to that. Barajas speaks big of him and even compares his stuff to Cliff Lee (not as good as Lee's, but similar, etc.) The Marlin hitters apparently reacted to Niese's cutter positively after the game after being questioned about it.

Pelfrey threw great and his splitter just fell off the table to the Nationals. That pitch is fantastic and its great he has mastered it in a short amount of time. Though his control seemed off at times, he can definitely throw that for swings and misses.

Now the big moment is Oliver Perez. People were raving about Ollie in Spring Training, how he's throwing gas and being extremely effective but then he collapsed come game time. I'm curious about how this will play out if he's not effective...

If Santana, Pelfrey, and Niese are all effective and consistent, we can't just allow Maine and Perez to get rocked each outing. If 3/5 pitchers are working in a groove, those 2 other pitchers are going to get us loses and put us back in the division because if we keep the offense like what Franceour has been doing and what our bullpen has been doing, we're poised for a big year.