Recap: Pelfrey & What’s Next, Walks & Baserunners
Last night, Mike Pelfrey allowed four runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, and he fell to 1-3 on the season and while raising his ERA for the season to 7.38.
For the third time in six starts, Pelfrey failed to complete five innings, and he’s completed six innings just once this season, averaging just 4 2/3 innings per start in 2011.
After the game, Pelfrey spoke with reporters and essentially said:
- He isn’t going to make any excuses, and says he felt fine, but got out-pitched.
- Left too many pitches in the middle of the plate, and good hitters take advantage.
- He felt the sinker was better last night than at any point this year.
- He thinks the double play will come, and he will continue to work on things.
Pelfrey is a stand up guy, and I like that. However, that’s not going to cut it. Last night in particular, he seemed to have no control of anything, and by that, I don’t just mean of his pitches, but of any aspect of the game while he was out there. Baserunners were running wild on him, and he didn’t give Josh Thole much of a chance to throw them out, and those base runners affected his delivery to the plate as well. He isn’t getting the groundballs with the same consistency as he has in the past, which is a huge concern, and frankly, outside of his start last week, he has had little, if any command of anything.
In addition, Dan Warthen spoke with reporters about Pelfrey’s outing, and essentially said the following:
- He felt his sinker and splitter were very good.
- Admired him for wanting to go out there, and concurred with Terry Collins in allowing him to pitch.
- He wasn’t upset by the way Pelfrey pitched, but pitch selection could have been better.
- Pelfrey is getting close, they saw some positives in his bullpen session the other day.
During last night’s broadcast, Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling were talking about the possibility of Pelfrey potentially working his issues out in the minor leagues. He does have minor league options, but I’m not sure what Sandy Alderson and his group have in mind going forward, or if that’s even a possibility for them.
No matter what, he has been largely ineffective for the most part this year regardless of the opposition, with inconsistent velocity and inconsistent mechanics, and the results have been indicative of that. The thing is, Pelfrey has been a streaky pitcher throughout his career, and so do the Mets wait and hope he can turn things around? Or, do they make some sort of move? I certainly don’t see him going to the bullpen, and Alderson has shown little patience for poor performances, so I wonder what their takeaway is from all of this is.
By the way, Mets pitching allowed seven walks, one intentional, ten hits, and three hit batsmen last night. Needless to say, that is not a recipe for success, especially against the Phillies, and in Citizens Bank Park…
For a full recap of last night’s loss, check out MetsZilla, Blogging Mets, The Mets Report, Amazin’ Avenue, Mets Today, and On the Black.
