The New York Mets in September: Figueroa Fails and Murphy Shines

For New York Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa, the season can’t end fast enough. In his last start in August, Figueroa had one of the best outings of his career when he threw eight innings of one run ball while striking out ten.  Speculations were made about Figueroa’s spot in the rotation next season, as he seemed to be passing with flying colors in his 2010 audition. September has been an unkind month to the journeyman pitcher.  He’s 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts this month, only making one “quality start”, last night against the Braves. He hasn’t gotten much run support behind him, with the team only scoring nine runs in his four starts, but he hasn’t pitched well enough to win aside from last night. Looking at Figueroa’s numbers, it seems his problem is a lack of a swing and miss pitch.  Even in the game where he struck out 10 he only had 10 swing and misses for the entire game.  Compare that to a guy like Joha...