Read: Mike Pelfrey, Behind in the Count
In four starts for the Mets this spring, Mike Pelfrey has allowed 16 hits, six walks and nine runs through 13 innings.
In Newsday, Anthony Rieber explains why Pelfrey has not done enough to earn the fifth spot in the starting rotation.
According to Jeremy Cothran, in a report for the Star-Ledger, Pelfrey wasn’t ‘pretty,’ but he was ‘effective.’
Yesterday, Pelfrey allowed just one earned run, but, in a post to Amazin’ Avenue, Eric Simon digs through the boxscore to reveal that Pelfrey ‘really didn’t pitch all that well.’
“I thought he threw the ball pretty well. He was behind in the count a lot, you’d like him to throw up a few more first strikes, but he didn’t really cave in or give in he just needs to work harder to get back in the count. he was behind a bit, but I thought his stuff was pretty good. When his ball was down in the zone he got ground balls and he was effective. But, next time out he needs to make sure he pitches more ahead.”
Pelfrey, after yesterday’s start, as quoted by Cothran:
“Maybe I get too amped up and I’m trying to do too much.”
…like willie said, he was behind in the count a lot, which was not the case earlier in the spring…it actually reminds me a lot of last spring, when he pitched ahead in the count, got a ton of groundballs and impressed, only to return mid-season, pitching behind in the count while allowing a ton of hits…
…this will always be my concern with pelfrey, until he proves otherwise, in that he just doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct to be a consistently good pitcher…
