Mets Player Performance Meter, Week 1: Pitchers

Ten games into the season, the Mets are only half a game behind the division-leading Washington Nationals with a 7-3 record. The team's pitchers have been a very pleasant early-season surprise. The Mets' 2.34 ERA and 2.89 FIP each rank second in the National League, and their 3.56 xFIP ranks fifth. Since the Mets' offense hasn't exactly been on fire to start the year, excellent pitching has been the biggest part of their success.

Over the course of the season, we'll check in on how each player on the Mets' roster is doing. Here, then, is the first pitching edition of the player performance meter.

Player	Last Week	This Week	Comment
Manny Acosta, RP			Coming off a strong spring, he's looked a lot more like the Acostalypse in his first few outings. Way too many walks.
Miguel Batista, RP			The last man out of the bullpen, Batista's had a very rough go of it in 2.2 innings. His 10.12 ERA paints an accurate picture.
Tim Byrdak, RP			With 5 K, 1 BB, and no hits allowed, Hulk Hogan's looked brilliant in the early going.
R.A. Dickey, SP			Never mind FIP and xFIP when it comes to Dickey. He's been great in his first two starts, even though the walks have been a bit higher than usual.
Frank Francisco, RP			Frankie Frank struggled all spring but promised better results when the real games began. So far, he's lived up his word with 7 K and 0 BB in 4 IP.
Dillon Gee, SP			It is early, of course, but Gee's 2.98 ERA is in line with his 8.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9. It'll be interesting to see how far the rates regress to his track record in the big leagues.
Jon Niese, SP			Pegged as a breakout candidate by many, Niese has been very good, carrying a no-hitter deep into his first game and pitching nearly as well in his second.
Bobby Parnell, RP			In his first 5 IP, Captain Fastball's mixed it up with the pitch selection. He's got 6 K to only 1 BB.
Mike Pelfrey, SP			Believe it or not, the peripherals suggest Pelfrey deserves better than his current 3.09 ERA. He's a well-known quality at this stage of his career, though, so it would be very surprising if his early strikeout and walk numbers didn't regress to his norms.
Ramon Ramirez, RP			One of the rare goats of the Mets' bullpen, Ramirez has given up plenty of hits and a trio of walks to only one strikeout.
Jon Rauch, RP			The big righty leads the bullpen in appearances, and he's given up only one hit and one walk in 6.2 innings of work.
Johan Santana, SP			Johan's fastball is coming in a notch slower than it did in 2010, but he's still getting tons of strikeouts. 11.7 per nine is very high, but even a rate hovering around 8.0 would be great.