Would you start Maholm @ NYM under these circumstances? WHIR

[schmidty]

Maholm has pretty good numbers against the Mets (3-1 record, 2.25 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 16 Ks in 32 IPs). Mets offense hasn't been great at home. Pirates offense has been awful though, and they're facing John Maine on Saturday.

Anyway, I'm nursing narrow leads in ERA (3.68 to 4.38), WHIP (1.30 to 1.43), and wins (3 to 2) and trying to come from behind in Ks (37 to 39). I have 44 IPs already this week (my opponent has 37 IPs), so ERA and WHIP shouldn't be super-volatile. I have 3 starters left (Maholm @ NYM, Danks vs Texas, Volstad @ COL), though if ARam is placed on the DL tomorrow I'll be able to spot start an extra one on Sunday if needed. My opponent has 2 starters left (Lester vs TB, Vazquez @ Philly).

What do you think? Maholm's early start (1pm EST) makes this tough. My opponent's 2 starts are both at 3:40 pm on Saturday. And all of my other starts are in the evening or on Sunday. I'm leaning towards starting Maholm. He's been good this season about delivering solid starts. I figure his floor is something like what he did in the loss to the Brewers - 9 ERA and 2 WHIP in 5 innings. That would still leave me with the leads in ERA (up to 4.22) and WHIP (up to 1.36). His extra 3 or 4 Ks might be the difference this week.

I don't know. I'd welcome any input. I know its late notice (and I won't be surprised if no one answers), but I wasn't expecting to be so competitive in pitching until I got a great night on Friday (Wandy, Cueto, Nolasco, and Bills gave me 3 wins, 20 Ks, 2.25 ERA, 1.18 WHIP in 28 IPs). If you leave a link I'll answer yours.