Silva is now off the list so from the last post, lets take a deeper look into Lohse and Blanton. Today I wanted to look into their experience in the NL East.
First up is Blanton. Blanton has had very little experience agaisnt our rivals in the East. In one start agaisnt philly in 2005, he went 7.2 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 7 K and 4 BB. He has no starts agaisnt the Braves.
In 2007, he made one start at Shea Stadium where he pitched 8 innings, posting a 0.0 ERA, 6 K and 1 BB.
In other words, there are not enough numbers to draw conclusions about Blantons potential 2008 numbers in the NL East because he does not have enough numbers in his carear.
Lohse has more numbers to draw upon. In three starts vs Philly, he has a 0-1 record and an 1.40 ERA. In four games agaisnt the braves, he posted a 2-1 record with a 5.16 ERA. In 2 games at Shea, he posted a 7.45 ERA (but lets blame that on the explosive Mets offense).
More specifically, lets look at his 2007 NL East stats. He spent parts of 2007 on the Reds and the Phillies. Overall, in starts agaisnt teams in the East (not including his numbers against the Mets), he pitched 50 IP with 27 ER, posting a 4.86 ERA.
Lohse is not the answer. I would rather see the Mets solve the rotation problem internally if it came down to Lohse and internal options. But, if the price of Lohse drops considerably, I might reconsider this thought.
