How good is John Maine?

• From his Major League debut with the Orioles on July 23, 2004 through his 3^rd start with the Mets on July 8, 2006, John Maine was 2-7 with a 6.18 ERA.
• From then through July 29, 2007 Maine was 19-7 with a 3.03 ERA.
• From then through September 23, 2007, Maine was 2-5 with a 6.87 ERA
• From then through today (May 16, 2008) Maine is 6-2 with a 2.42 ERA.

As a Met, Maine is 27-17, 3.62. Since finding his form on July 15, 2006, he's 27-14, 3.55.

Maine said that he was playing hurt through his horrendous stretch last August and September. If you exclude that stretch, Maine is 25-9, 2.92 since July 15, 2006.

Obviously every pitcher looks better if you take out the bad parts, and you can always play with numbers to make a bad pitcher look like Cy Young.

Even if you include his bad stretch in late 2007, Maine has been a very good pitcher since July 2006. If you exclude that stretch where he was playing hurt, he's been a great pitcher.