JUPITER, Fla. — Dillon Gee is almost the forgotten starting pitcher in camp, but the right-hander quietly has given the Mets one more reason to believe their rotation can succeed.
In a spring during which Johan Santana’s comeback, Jon Niese’s nose job, R.A. Dickey’s autobiography and Mike Pelfrey’s struggles have been storylines, Gee has drifted beneath the radar.
“He’s had a good spring,” manager Terry Collins said yesterday after Gee allowed four earned runs over six innings in the Mets’ 4-3 exhibition loss to the Cardinals.
The numbers back Collins’ claim. In five Grapefruit League appearances, Gee is 1-1 with a 3.92 ERA and has given the Mets reason to believe he can rebound from a rough second half of last season, when he admittedly was tired while pitching a full major league season for the first time.
Regardless of how Collins aligns his rotation, Gee has jumped ahead of Pelfrey in the Mets’ pecking order. It is now Pelfrey who seems more like the No. 5 starter, after a horrid spring in which he has done little to gain the confidence of his bosses.
The Mets don’t view Gee, who went 13-6 with a 4.43 ERA last season, as the pitcher who was a borderline All-Star in the first half of last season, when he started 8-2. But he also isn’t seen as a liability, as he was over his final 10 starts last year, pitching to a 5.91 ERA.
“I’m ahead of where I was last year at this time,” Gee said. “This is probably the best spring I’ve ever had. Most springs are kind of hit or miss, but for the most part I’ve felt a lot better this year.”
Much of that can be attributed to Gee getting comfortable with a wider assortment of pitches instead of depending on his change-up.
“This year he’s a little more prepared,” catcher Mike Nickeas said. “I like his pitches better this year. I like his sinker a lot right now. His curveball looks really good and the change-up is obviously going to be there for him. That’s his bread and butter.
“I think he now believes in himself a little more and that is going to serve him well as the season continues to go because he knows he’s going to have those extra pitches in his back pocket.”
Collins said the true test may not come until the summer months, when pitchers begin to fatigue.
“We’re going to need him to go out there with some quality starts in August,” Collins said.
Gee is scheduled to make an abbreviated start against the Yankees on Wednesday in Tampa. He would then face the Nationals at Citi Field in the Mets’ second series of the regular season.
Gee would have preferred a crisper performance in his final full start of the exhibition season. The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the fourth and added two runs against Gee in the sixth.
“Today was really weird,” said Gee, who allowed 10 hits, but did not walk a batter. “I felt awesome in the bullpen, pretty good in the first inning and then I kind of just lost it after that. I feel like I was struggling and battling myself the whole game.
“But today I look at the positives. I threw a lot of strikes with the curveball and I didn’t walk anybody, so I think as long as I can keep doing stuff like that, I should have better results.”