Last night, Mike Pelfrey allowed three runs and eight hits, while walking just one and striking out nobody, in seven innings.
Following the game, David Wright joked with reporters about Pelfrey keeping his strike-out-less streak in tact.
…that’s funny… but, seriously, who cares… i worried about this for a moment too, because i feel like he’s just begging for trouble by putting so many runners on base… but, he isn’t walking any one either… yes, he is falling behind hitters, but he gets so many 
ground balls with that sinking two-seam fastball… he got 14 ground balls from the 28 batters he faced, including two double plays… and so, it seems like he’s commanding the inning better, and intentionally pitching to contact… eventually this season, he’ll get ahead of hitters, his off-speed pitches will return, and he’ll start being able to strike guys out… but, in the meantime, as long as there’s a game plan in place, and they’re executing it and it’s working, so be it…
“My sinker was good tonight, it was good the last start, and if I have that pitch working and I’m able to locate it down in the strike zone, I can pitch with one pitch,” Pelfrey explained to reporters following the game.
The Mets have scored 36 runs in Pelfrey’s five starts.
The Mets have scored 12 runs in six games for Johan Santana.
“He doesn’t need the run support,” Pelfrey said with a smile.
{ 78 comments }
This is still not the same Pelfrey as we saw last June-August. But this version is also better than last April-May. I think he will find his groove soon enough.
i dont think his sinker is really sinking…all he had tonight was his fb. I hope with the warm weather and humiditiy will help with the sink on the sinker but hey pelf has been effective for the most part
I don’t know Dirty, he said it was working AND it did produce a lot of GB’s?
he says its working but it doesnt look like that bowling ball sinker that ive seen him throw…but he is getting more ground balls than fly ball..just wondering if its coming via the sinker or the fastball
Pelfrey never had a true “sinker”….His two-seamer just happens to have tremendous sink on it, and thats what he uses. He was saying that the difference between the two-seamer sinking, as opposed to moving sideways is very slight – when throwing the pitch, if his fingers are on the top and bottom of the ball it acts one way, and if they are on the sides, it acts another. He also was saying that though it is slight, it isn’t necessarily an easy thing to fix, and throw consistently. He’ll find it eventually, and you’ll see the bowling ball again.
“He doesn’t need the run support”and “I hope they keep it up”
Oh snap, Mike. Are you kidding?
Pelfrey is a sinker ball pitcher, not a strike out guy. He’s going to get guys to fly out or ground out, every time. I don’t care if he doesn’t register a single K all year, as long as he gets the W’s. Wins are all that matter…
Right… but he has 6 Ks in 28 innings, which amounts to a K/9 of under 2. If he keeps that up, he’ll start getting plastered which means less wins
Why does that mean he will get plastered? Don’t you think his WHIP rate is a much better judge?
The less strikeouts, the lower the pitch count usually. If they are grounding out, he is getting double plays too. Chien Ming Wang struck virtually nobody out and won 38 games in 2 years. He is horrible right now because his sinker has been floating over the plate like a Guillermo Mota changeup from 2007.
The lack of K’s is a little surprising, but all in all I’ll take the ground balls and the W any day of the week. Not helping his fantasy owners, but who cares.
From wikipedia a list of noteable sinker pitchers
Chien-Ming Wang
Kevin Brown
Roy Halladay
Brandon Webb
Tim Hudson
Derek Lowe
Joe Smith
Orel Hershiser
Aaron Cook
Fausto Carmona
Jake Westbrook
Jason Marquis
Carlos Zambrano
Mike Timlin
Wally Bunker
Mike Pelfrey
Kyle Kendrick
Brandon League
Luke Hochevar
Justin Masterson
Jon Garland
Carlos Silva
Julian Tavarez
Most of those guys do not have good K rates.
yankee fans were saying they didn’t care about wang’s K rate 2 years ago. beware. a pitcher has to miss some bats to be successful long term.
Yeah, that Orel guy was a K machine.
On comparison of run support to Santana, Don’t forget Santana is frequently faced ace for ace agains the oppositions best pitcher, so the lineup has a harder time giving the support.
Chan Ho Park is an ace?
He was according to Mets hitters…
Notice the use of “Frequently”
It’s also a mental issue as well. They put too much pressure on themselves trying to score runs for him.
Agreed.
“Come on all we have to do is score 2, come on just do it. Come on just get 2 runs we can do it” And what happens, we press and dont score at all.
i posted his opposition the first few games of the season
He has had to face
harang,jj,gillardo,zimmerman,jj(again) and park who threw a very good game against us. Its not like we have been facing mediocre talent either. I agree with you point and it is hardly ever brought up when this question is asked
Who cares about strikes outs?!
A double play is a pitchers best friend. And Pelfrey induced his fair share!
Also, pitching to contact and not being cutesy trying to strike out guys means that Pelfrey’s pitch count will likely be reasonable enabling him to go 6-7 innings more frequently.
I don’t mind bad K/BB ratio. I don’t want him thinking he can strike people out and leave his pitches up rather than down.
I think once his breaking stuff starts to click, he’ll get couple Ks here and there.
I think he can K people. He just needs to develop an “out” pitch.
curve ball….bank on it
He threw it to someone last night…he develops a curve ball and a good one…watch out.
I always thought a pitcher with a sinker like that, breaking down and in on righties should develop a slider. First the batter needs to recognize slider or fastball, then adjust to which way the ball is going to break. If he develops a major league slider, he can be very good.
He had a few games last year where he struck out 7. In those games, he was getting the strikeouts with his 4 seamer up in the zone Maine style.
Based on what we saw in ATL, we can get a 10 game winning streak.
Winning in Atlanta makes me start to believe in Santa Claus again.
After ATL, we have SF, and Im not sure if we face Lincecum.
ATL series will be very interesting. Lowe vs Santana, Jurjens vs Pelf.
Ladies and gentlemen, the new popcorn head, Jeff Franceour.
In Atlanta, they have Franceour’s Franks. We should do something like Franceour’s Cocktail Weiners. :-)
Any chance we can get him on HCG and tested before we show up in SF?
if pelfrey pitches like he did last season we’re in good shape.
the problem is Omar better be looking to add someone come the trade deadline. doesnt have to be an all-star but then again I have no problems trading Niese or Martinez. both are overhyped Mets prospects…
I don’t know. One one hand, FMart (I hate guys that have nicknames or “short” names before they have one career plate appearance) is finally starting to put up quality numbers in the minors. Personally, I’d like to build from within. There is somethign about guys like Wright, Reyes, Murph, and Pelf. They are all home grown. We fans love that.
you look at Martinez’s minor league numbers and they aren’t that impressive.
maybe i’m missing something but I look at Martinez’s numbers and I dont see superstar…
You don’t necessarily have to hit .400 in the minors to be a .300 major league hitter. Look at Anderson Hernandez. He lit up the minors, but never made it in the majors. There is a reason Martinez has withstood poor minor league production and remains a top prospect. Not to mention, he has been injured the last two years.
i am well of aware of that but i dont see how a guy who hits .280 10-15 HR a year in the minors is going to be a superstar player.
He’s 20 yrs old. Hasn’t exactly filled out. If you’ve seen him, you can tell he will be filling out that frame and could develop power. Even if he doesn’t, 15 home runs would be nice for a two hitter :-)
doesn’t that argument make fernando martinez look even worse?
He really hasn’t broken out yet. The reason why he is so highly regarded is because of his age. He was putting up average numbers in leagues where he was the youngest player by far. So it’s not the numbers that make him highly regarded. It looks like he might be just starting to break out this year at age 20 though. See my post below.
He’s also been injured a lot, so that has to have some affect on the numbers. He has a beautiful swing, that much is clear. Of course that doesn’t necessarily translate into success int he big leagues, but I thik he can be a player and would love to hold on to him.
Fernando Martinez looks like he might be finally starting breaking out. In 97 at bats in AAA, he has 28 hits (.289BA), 16 of which are for extra bases. 11 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers.
Leads the league in extra base hits.
to be honest..i dont think we will aquire anybody. The only person we would want moved is ollie but really who the hell else would want him. Our starting pitchers have put together good outings back to back..lets give them some time before we determine we “need” another starting pitcher.
agree with most that as long as he’s getting a great groundball rate, his K rate matters less.
On another subject, I woke up still furious about vicky going out of his way and giving that forearm shiver to Jose. They have GOT to drill that punk.
Like him or not (I hate him), he is a smart player. If one of our guys did that to the Phillies, we’d love it. A rundown is pretty much a guaranteed out and he knew it. Might as well take a chance and try to get an obstruction call.
Oh I agree that it was smart, and those types of players you love to have on your team. guys like Bruce Bowen. What sticks in my craw is the swipe he took with his elbow into jose’s gut. That should get him drilled.
5 minutes ago, Matt put a new post up titled ‘Victorino is a cheater’. Then it disappeared. Wonder what’s up with that?
Matt does that sometimes. There was even a Pelfrey quote in this post that he got rid of in 30 seconds.
I don’t think drilling Victorino is the way to deal with the situation. Signing Albert Belle is.
ok, i have been reading this blog for years, wanting to post regularly, always out of frustration, not at the team, but at the fans. Sorry this is long, but ive read an encyclopedia worth of posts. Now that everyone has stopped with their ridiculous statements I would like to take a moment to reflect on and critique what was said the past few weeks.
anyone who wants to trade wright and/or reyes right now are the same people that will want to trade beltran when he cools off (no he wont hit like this all season). you want to trade our farm system all star starting ss and 3b for good starting pitching? who are u putting at short and third if u trade them? thank god u wash windows and dont work for the organization. the young talent we have right now comes off once every 47 years. learn the game.
those who wanted to bench delgado for his error are the people that complained about hitting with RISP even though he came through huge in that same game and had he been benched Johan would not have won his start(u musta missed that).
anyone who boos anyone on the team that they pay money to go and cheer for does not understand the game, and also booed beltran when he was playing on 2 bad knees. there are reasons why people have ups and downs, and playing through pain is one of them (that is heart that u all refer to so often). there is not one player on the team that hasnt been booed and there is not one player on the team that has not won us games by being “clutch”. love it or leave it, if u love the orange and blue stop booing. ur a disgrace to the real fans.
i am proud to be a met fan but bashing this team HAS to stop. you are watching the best SS, 3B, CF, SP, RP we have ever had in the history of the team.
oh yeah, stop bashing omar for getting them here. u think the players, management, and ownership are doing a poor job, i assure you fans that boo are doing worse. it is hard to defend your ignorance to other team fans that ridicule you. especially cause that is what we once criticized philly fans for.
also, i love how people nit-pick wright’s numbers. its a marathon not a sprint. he has NEVER had a bad season. he has actually only had phenominal seasons and he makes a fraction of the $ the inferior cross town rivals third baseman makes. some of u are a mess… most of u are awesome… LETS GO METS.
sorry for the long post
I think after the past two seasons, suggesting a trade of Wright or Reyes for an ace-caliber starting pitcher is far from off the wall or over the top. I understand that they are the best home grown players we’ve had since Doc and Straw, but sometimes changes need to be made. Even if they are tough decisions. Sometimes it’s better to have the juevos to make a tough decision like that, than to not even entertain it. We’ve lost with them. I’m sure we can lose without them and build the team around a different aspect of the game. Trade from your strength to strengthen your weakness.
I don’t agree with this logic.
Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. How did that work out for them???
With all due respect to David and Jose (not that either one would be offended by this comment), they are not Babe Ruth.
I also disagree. DW has had a HOF beginning to his career,and given health, he could get there. JR is one of the top offensive and defensive players at a premium position. Halladay’s a great pitcher, but there’s no way on earth I’d trade 10 years of top tier production for 5 years of great pitching every fifth day. (I assume a normal decline in the mid 30’s)
i would never trade Wright (unless i got Longoria or Pujols in return) but Reyes is not a smart baseball player. He has so much talent but he still doesnt know how to use it right.
he doesnt know when to steal, doesnt know how to bunt. given his talent, he should be much more dominant.
Agreed. The thing that gets me about Reyes is his streakiness. He gets into these funks where he’s not even close. I’m a huge fan of both (I have both of their ‘86 throwbacks), but I would not be opposed to trading one of them for a guy like Halladay or Peavy. Let’s be honest, if you want another front line starter, that’s where the convo begins and ends. Rather than depleting the farm again.
I don’t see why it would automatically have to include Wright or Reyes when one considers the fact that we got the best pitcher in baseball for minor league talent.
No way I would trade Reyes or wright for Peavey or Halliday. Great pitchers both, but I’ll take an everyday player of their caliber over a good pitcher any day of the week.
I’m not sure how you can criticize his stolen base prowess after the SB numbers he’s put up since he has been in the leauge. Ok he can’t bunt.
He CAN play great defense, hit for power out of the leadoff hole, drive in runs, energize and entire team and carry it on his back.
But he can’t bunt, you are right.
The bunting thing really is brutal with Jose, and does definitely speak to his overall work ethic and attitude…..he could come in early every day and work on bunting until he can do it, or he could work an hour every day at it in the spring…he doesn’t.
If he could bunt, with his speed, from the left side he could add a LOT of hits every year.
Brock,
He had 204 hits last year and at least 190 for the last 4 years. I mean he gets plenty of hits. Would it be great if he improved his bunting. Sure, but let’s not nitpick. Not every part of everyone’s game is going to be perfect.
Oh I agree, and I love Jose….it does just seem that if he taught himself to bunt, he could move to that .320 BA /.380 OBP level maybe…..his overall game is PERFECT for regular bunting and it is just a little surprising that he has not chosen to really work to incorporate that into his game.
But again, especially after his injuries early in his career, it is clear that Jose does definitely work very hard and keep himself in shape, and I never would boo or trade him or question his gritty little heart.
Gotcha. I think if there is a criticism to be made, then it has more to do with a generational thing than an individual thing. I mean I bet most guys his age, who have had his success, can’t bunt a lick. Geez most pitchers acn’t even bunt and that is the only thing they should be doing.
brock, but how do you know he doesn’t do those things? I know I see him working on bunting in the cage every game I’ve been to. Do you have evidence of justify criticism of his work ethic?
I understand the point, but the fact is they are so young. Trading one of them for lets say Halladay who is in his 30s isn’t a great long term strategy. You know Wright and Reyes will be productive for many years because they are only 25 and 26. Who knows when someone like Halladay will start to decline.
Getting out of the AL East will add at least 2 years to Halladay’s career (as an ace). Bad news for the NL East. Good news for me (he’s on my fantasy team) :-).
Sum up Halladay in three words. Complete. Game. Machine.
My starting pitchers:
Halladay
Oswalt (killing me)
Cain
Lowe
Buerhle
DL:
E. Santana
Dice K
OK, but then lets say you trade Reyes for him. Who do we put at shortstop who is going to hit .290 with 30 doubles, 18 triples, 15 home runs, 50 steals?
and 200 hits a year and great defense? It’s a hell of a package. He’s got a very real shot of reaching 3,000 hits in his career (always assuming health)
Well said and it looks like you got a lot off your chest.
Haha–great post and thanks!
Well said, and I agree wholeheartedly.
Some people on here are just plain unreasonable and want us to win every game 10–0, some people here really have problems and actually get off on bitching after Met losses, and some, as you state, just do not know the game.
And booing your hometown favorite teams’ players is completely ridiculous unless they are clearly not giving 100%.
Really well-said, and thanks again.
Sure is beautiful how a few wins clears out most of the jackas*es.
who are you playing at two of the three most important defensive positions?
I would LOVE to have two aces at the top of the rotation but you have two young players that bat first and third in your lineup and play very solid defense (IMO great defense). how do you fill those gaps? bring back miguel cairo?
also, you strengthen your weakness of thelast two years by fixing the bullpen. that is already done. I cant believe Met fans want to trade Wright or Reyes when you look at their career numbers already and they are so young. the guys can hit field, and will be on the left side of the infield and perhaps one day have their numbers retired. we were not contenders until these two came of age adn we will not be if we lose them
1in86 your posts have made more sense then I have ever seen on here. I read all the posts daily but rarely respond as most are just negative emmotional reactions that are not thought out. It foolish to even consider getting rid of player that has put up the numbers they have, are under your control at low cost dollars for several more years, that are still 2-3 years from reaching thier baseball prime – 28-32 years old, that are homegrown fan favorites and have done nothing but represent the franchise in a positive way. Top it off they have done nothing win since the arrived. No team goes 162 – 0 with 162 shutouts, never makes an error and whose starting position players all hit .350 with power. Most Met fans are to demanding, to unrealistic, and have way to much short term memorey without any vision of the future. It was great to read a sensible, well thought out post. Hope its not the last I see on here.
“…his off-speed pitches will return”? Ha. You must be kidding Matt. Mike Pelfrey has no off-speed pitches. Well, maybe I should refine that. He has very poor off-speed pitches that he can use occasionally “for show” when trying to keep hitters off-balance. But that’s it.
Why doesn’t Warthen (or, better yet, JJ Putz) try and teach Pelfrey a splitter?
“but, seriously, who cares”
I do and you should too. A pitcher can’t survive without the ability to strike out batters. The more balls put in play, the more that will fall for hits. That, plus there are situations where a pitcher really needs to get an out without a ball in play.
Big Pelf needs to start missing some bats.
Please for the love of all things h oly look at Mike Pelfrey’s career g/f ratios and stop repeating this flat out fallacy that he is a groundball pitcher.
And Arod was called out for initiating contact with a fielder trying to knock the ball out of his glove going to first.
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