Chris Young, and the disturbing track of the starting pitching

In Friday's 7-5 loss to the Braves, Chris Young was ineffective for three innings, allowing five runs and six hits with three walks in three innings.

'I did my best to prepare for the start and I had trouble finding my rhythm early,' Young said after last night's game. 'You're going to have nights like that over the course of the season. I needed to do a better job limiting the damage. I felt good. It's just the ball wasn't going exactly where I wanted.'

Young fell to 2-3 and saw his ERA balloon to 4.23 for the season.

'Obviously, [Young] probably was a little rusty with not the normal activity that he usually does ' the playing catch and stuff during the week,' Terry Collins said. 'I'm sure he'll be good in a couple of days, even though he had to work pretty hard. 71 certainly is something he can come back from.'

Over their last seven games, Mets starting pitchers have gone 2-4 with a 6.18 ERA in 43 2/3 innings over that span.

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Michael Baron: Young just did not look good from the beginning last night. He was fidgety, his tempo was slow, and he was wiggling his arm after pitches which was an indication he just wasn't comfortable. He had zero fastball command right from the very first pitch and he had to resort to his curveball more than he normally does ' he didn't have much command of that pitch either, and needed over 30 pitches to get through the first inning alone.

The thing is, Young must live at the very top of the strike zone in order to be successful. His stuff at that eye level provides the maximum level of deception which, when he's right, results in weak contact in the air. When his ball gets down in the zone, his pitches are easier to see and get on top of and balls which are put in play have a tendency to be more on a line when that happens. That's what happened in the first at-bat of the game with Michael Bourn, and David Ross' three run home run in the third inning. It's funny ' when Young is getting groundballs, he is usually in trouble, as was the case last night.

Young continued a disturbing trend of ineffectiveness by the starting pitching. For the second consecutive game, the Mets found themselves down big early, and it's very, very difficult to win games like that. It's simple: The Mets can add all the relievers they want, replace Mike Nickeas, find a big right handed bat, and blame Lucas Duda for being a poor defensive player ' if the starting pitching is not addressed and improved, none of that will matter in the end. Hopefully, this is simply a bad turn through the rotation.