Pen Has Stopped Leaking

Duaner Sanchez had a scary moment yesterday after getting hit by a line drive. Lucky for the Mets, it looks like it was just a bruise. Duaner is 3-0 with a 3.79 ERA, but he has been even better than those numbers indicate. He has only allowed runs in 7 of his 34 outings and has not allowed a run in his last 9 outings. Take away 2 outings and he has pitched 34 innings and allowed just 7 runs for a 1.84 ERA. Although there are still times it looks like he is still holding back a bit because of his previous shoulder issues, he really has been a key cog in the Mets bullpen.

Aaron Heilman has not allowed a run in his last 10 appearances. What's more, he has been getting a good number of strikeouts. His ERA is still a high 4.60, but it had a long way to come down. Earlier in the year, Heilman was falling in love with his changeup leading to a ton of homeruns allowed. Since April 26th, he has allowed just 1 homerun. Heilman has been mixing up his pitches and he has always been a second half pitcher.

Since his disasterous week, Billy Wagner has picked it up again and has not allowed a run in his last 7 appearances earning 6 saves. The monkeys would like to see him not a blow any key saves this weekend against the Phillies and then we'll know he's completely out of his slump.

Although it may appear that Pedro Feliciano has been pretty consistent all year, he has actually got much better as the year has gone on. He was just a bit lucky earlier in the year. Check out his monthly WHIP's below:

April: 1.71
May: 1.50
June: 1.03

Like Sanchez, Schoenweiss has had a couple of really bad outings, but he has only allowed rus in 7 of his 38 appearances. Dropping his two horrible outings, he has an ERA of 1.40 for the year. He has been immensely better than he was last season and has curtailed all the fan's booing which is no easy task.

Joe Smith is the only key cog in the bullpen that has been a little inconsistent lately. He's been effective most outings, but has been hit a bit as well lately. The Mets are wisely limiting his innings since he hit a wall around this time last year.

Overall, things are looking really good with the bullpen. Hopefully, Eddie Kunz who has 22 saves as the AA closer can help out later in the season. He has not allowed a homerun in 36.2 innings. However, he has walked 23 and struck out 33. That ratio is holding him back.

EL DUQUE SIGHTING?

El Duque will possibly be making a rehab start next week. The monkeys are not sure where he fits in at this point, but we guess he can take the Claudio Vargas/Tony Armas Jr. swingman spot if he has anything left.