Mets’ Bartolo Colon is a modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Bartolo Colon‘s 2015 season has been quite a whirlwind.

Coming off a decent 2014, where he went 15-13 with a 4.09 ERA, many Mets fans expected Colon to be the veteran arm in the Mets’ rotation that would provide consistency and wisdom for the young guys. And for a short while, he was everything the organization was asking for and, surprisingly, more.

Colon began the season winning four straight starts in April, showing off a sparkling 4-0 record to go along with a 2.77 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 26 innings.

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Then, all of a sudden, the wheels fell off quite considerably and despite winning four out of the six starts he made in May, Colon’s ERA ballooned to an unsatisfactory 4.72 by May 31.

In June, the 42-year-old righty appeared in four games, going 1-3, including a shellacking from the Toronto Blue Jays where he went 4.1 innings, allowing six earned runs. His ERA after this start was 4.81.

Fortunately, Colon improved in the three subsequent starts which resulted in his ERA dropping to 4.46.

That in itself already depicts the massive difference in “good” Bartolo Colon and “bad” Bartolo Colon. The general theme of his 2015 season could easily be defined as a good few starts, followed by a string of rough appearances.

But if you think that his early season starts were inconsistent, his appearances since July 7 will be your new textbook definition of inconsistency:

Bartolo Colon starts in July and August (via Baseball Reference)

If you start from July 7, Colon has alternated between a good/decent start and an awful start each time.

On July 7, Colon allowed two earned runs in six innings of work. He followed that up with a start where he allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings of work against the Cardinals.

On July 23, Colon threw his best game all season, allowing one earned run in eight innings of work against the Los Angeles Dodgers. How did he respond to that in his following start? He allowed six earned runs in 2.1 innings against the Padres.

Against the Miami Marlins on August 3rd, Colon basically replicated his July 23 start. And you guessed it, he allowed four earned runs in a start against the Rays on August 9.

Most recently, Colon tossed a solid outing against the surging Pittsburgh Pirates, going seven innings, allowing only one run while striking out seven. But, of course, in his next start, Colon allowed seven earned runs and three home runs in only 3.2 innings against the Rockies.

Inconsistency is definitely hurting Bartolo Colon and one must wonder if he’ll even be in the rotation in the playoffs, if the Mets make it that far.

The Mets needed Colon to be the consistent guy in the rotation, and they’re lucky the rest of the arms have picked up his slack whenever he had a rough outing.

But, if history is ready to repeat itself, which it has been for the past two months, Colon will probably toss eight solid innings en route to a victory for the Mets on Wednesday night against the Phillies.

All in all, it’s safe to say that baseball truly is weird.