Maine's first pitch problems

After last night’s outing, John Maine wasn’t pleased with his command, particularly on the first pitch.

“I couldn’t get strike one in there,” he said. “And if I did, I still found myself 2–1 and I was pitching behind people all night.”

Of the 24 batters he faced in last night’s game, only 11 saw first pitch strikes (45.8 percent). Three of those were fouled off and two were put into play for outs. Hanley Ramirez hit one out for a home run.

Maine used fastballs for his first pitch to 14 of the batters, sliders for six and changes for four others.

Of his eight hits, three came with Maine behind in the count and five with the count even. One good sign, I suppose, is that when Maine got ahead in the count he was at least able to put batters away.