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Newest Met Livan Hernandez was 13-11 with an ERA greater than 6 in 2008. That's an extremely high ERA for someone with a winning record. Some might say he was a man of good fortune. I'll say he's a man of good Fortunato.

Three pitchers have ERA of higher than 10, yet had winning records in a season for the Mets.

Atop the list is Bartolome Fortunato, who was 1-0 with a 27.00 ERA in 2006. Fortunato's season consisted of two appearances. In the first, on May 6 against the Braves, he yielded a run in 1 2/3 innings, and thanks to a Jorge Julio save (!), and a key two-run double by Kaz Matsui, got the win in a 6-5 triumph.

The next day, Fortunato wasn't so lucky. He drew the role of mop-up man, surrendering eight runs in 1 1/3 innings, in Jose Lima's 13-3 loss to the Braves. He hasn't pitched in the majors since.

Next on the list is Mike Matthews, who was 1-0 with a 10.80 ERA in 2005. His win came on April 14, with a fine inning in relief of Victor Zambrano, as his scoreless seventh inning held a 3-1 deficit. That turned into a 4-3 lead, thanks to a critical error in the home half by Astros third baseman Mike Lamb. Of Matthews five appearances, this was the only one in which the Mets won. He allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings over two blowout losses against the Marlins and Nationals, and was done.

The third and final man on the list is also competing for a roster spot in Mets camp, Tom Martin., for whom 15 runs of damage in 5 1/3 innings in May 2001, left his ERA a rather bloated 10.06. The first of those appearances was alright- 2 2/3 innings with one run allowed, as the Mets rallied to beat the Astros, 7-5, with Robin Ventura's grand slam putting Martin in the victory column.

True Metnandezs know...Bobby Jones had the highest ERA of any Mets pitchers with a winning record, and at least 10 wins in a season. He was 11-6 with a 5.06 ERA in 2000, which thankfully was good enough to earn him a start in the NLDS (coincidentally, Livan Hernandez was on the Mets opponent, the Giants, at the time).

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