Small Pelf

Piggy backing off of yesterday's post, one must realize that last night was just one game.  However, it was Game 2 for Mike Pelfrey and for the second consecutive outing, he looked small.  There are probably some excuses that could be found for his performance in Florida last week but not last night.  The man wasn't even able to make it out of the third inning, and that hurts the team in a number of ways.  

First off, all the more pressure is placed on the offense's shoulders to score a lot of runs and credit to them, they did, scoring seven runs to get Small Pelf off the hook.  Secondly, added innings to the bullpen.  Those guys had to pitch a few innings in securing Tuesday's win, tacked on a lot more work last night and have a short rest since there's an afternoon game today.  Finally, it has to kill Pelfrey's confidence.  He might be one of the most short fused, mental pitchers in the game.  One thing goes wrong for him and his mind starts to race and everything just seems to fall out of sync.

Listen, I'm not throwing the 'Ace' tag on him, because he's not that type of pitcher.  I'm hoping that the organization and the rest of the media shed that title from him because it's unfair.  He's a #2 pitcher and that's what we need from him; to be solid, get his 15 Ws, and give the team a chance to win each time he takes the mound.  It didn't happen last night.  It better happen Monday night at Citi Field vs the Rockies.

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Not What Was Envisioned

Well last night didn't turn out to be what Mets fans and myself had hoped for since the end of September last year.  Basically, it seemed as if it were the same team playing the same game from last year.

David Wright kept striking out.  Jose Reyes was jumpy at the plate.  The offense had no pop in its bats.  Mike Pelfrey struggled with his command and channelled his inner John Maine by allowing way to many foul tips.

There were some positives though.  Brad Emaus played well defensively at second base.  Carlos Beltran had a decent game in right field and had the first RBI on the season.  The bullpen, although giving up some hard hits, pitched decently.

That's the great thing about baseball though, there's 161 games left to be played and they Metsies get to do it all over again tonight at 7:10 (Jon Niese vs Ricky Nolasco, SNY/WFAN).  I believe the team will have settled down from their Opening Day nerves and get back to the team who hit the ball pretty well the last week of Spring Training.

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