Mets leading NL East pitching

I know ERA isn’t the best way to evaluate pitchers, but it’s the most widely understood.  Here are three charts, breaking down the NL East pitching staffs by starters, relievers and combined using the ERA stat.

First, the starters… Surprisingly, and despite their 25-25 record, the Braves are leading the NL East in starters ERA.  The Mets are sitting pretty in second, obviously inflated by the ERAs of Tim Redding and Oliver Perez.

Now the relievers… The Mets are leading this category by a fairly wide margin.  For the Nationals, none of this is good news.  They’re 28th overall for starting pitching and 29th for relievers, easily placing them in dead last for total stats.

And now combined…So far, so good for the Mets pitching staff.  Lately, with the position players decimated by various injuries, the rotation and bullpen has really carried the team to wins.  Going 19-9 in May must be mostly attributed to the hard word out of the guys on the mound.