As we continue this week to look back at our hero Grave, lets take a look at another one of his finest.
Post Game: Area 51 & Stage 16 Collide
Now back to our regularly scheduled programing. If you read that link then you already know the outcome for tonight.
Reyes seems to have found a new toy thanks to Jimmy Rollins teaching him how to be a 3rd place hitter. Jose was able to lead off the game with another great bunt single. Reyes was then able to steal second and take third on the poor throw. Harris struck out on a terrible called swing. With one out Wright stepped up and promptly struck out looking. Uh oh, big zone tonight. Up comes Beltran who flied out to left. Deja vu all over again.
Speaking of Deja vu, Vicki leads off with a triple to start Pelfrey’s night. Unlike the Mets however, Placebo was able to drive in Vicki with a ground out to 2B. Score 0-1. Hey what the hell happen to the big zone? Luckily the Mets were able to take the Rollins bunt away, fly out to CF. Then the Cat Pelfrey had to face Howard who hit a bomb in the gap for a double bringing up Ibanez who singled to LF to drive in Howard. Score 0-2. Here we go again… As you guys know, I am a huge Pelfrey defender but lets hope that April 2011 is not July 2010. Pelfrey was able to get out of the inning just because Harris was standing where Rice-a-roni happened to lace the ball.
The Mets went down quietly in the 2nd only getting an infield single from Emaus. The New Philly’s Ace Joe Blanton was dealing. So much for Pelf having time to clear his head. But hey, last year the Cat’s worst inning was the 1st inning so there’s hope. Until Pistol Pete Orr was able to lead off the inning with an infield single deep in the hole to Reyes. Again, Pelfrey was saved by an overly dramatic play from Harris to record an out on a fly ball to LF. Then Pelfrey had one of the largest brain fart of all time. Allowing bunted pop fly to drop, then throwing the ball to first wildly to say the least. This allowed runners to be on 2nd and 3rd with one out instead of ending the inning. Well that just sucked. With all respect to the last guy’s family, can we get Pelfrey a new shrink? Due to that misplay the Phillies were able to score a run on another ground out. Score 0-3. Placebo then came up to again hit the ball hard to set up 1st and 3rd for Jimmy. Pelfrey’s sinker = batting practice fastball again tonight. Thankfully Jimmy Mc3rdplacebunt struck out on a splitter to put an end to the inning. Really not sure how only 1 run scored in that disaster.
Top of the 3rd inning Ace Blanton continued his mastery by limiting the Mets to a single from Harris. Quietly in the night… Time for the Cat to take the mound again. This time Pelfrey came in to stealthy give up a bomb to Ryan Howard. Score 0-4. ERA 9Million. Ibanez lines a hit up the middle for a single. Pelfrey either needed to be taken out of the game or hit Rice-a-roni in the head. He did neither and gave up a walk to the Ben Fransisco Treat. Pistol Pete hit the ball in no man’s land to load the bases and put an end to my suffering Pelfrey’s night. Bucholtz relieved Pelfrey and came in to retire Schneider only to give up a 2 RBI single to CY Blanton. Score 0-half-dozen. After retiring Vicki, Taylor gave up a single to Placebo driving in Orr. Score 0-baker’s half-dozen. Plefrey’s final line: Cocaine. Mind if I step out for a while? I need a drink. You man the wheel.
Top of the 5th a double from Reyes over the head of the old man, followed by a walk to Harris brings up Wright who singles up the middle to drive in Reyes. 3-7. Single from Beltran drives in Harris 4-7. Oh uh, by the way it appears while I was taking care of a dire thirst it appears Angel Pagan hit a 2 run HR. Speaking of Pagan, single up the middle to load the bases. Wright held at 3rd, interesting decision considering the Mets in ability in previous seasons to hit with the bases loaded. I guess Terry did not know that nor did Davis. Double to RF driving in Wright and Beltran. Score 6-7. This my friends is not the same NY Mets. Love me some Dave Hudgens. A walk to Emaus loads the bases again and produces 7 straight Mets to reach base. Thole, who did not look good against Blanton at all, faced the LH Bastard(o) only to strike out. Up next, Daniel Murphy. Daniel was in an interesting position having appeared as a pinch hitter earlier in the inning yet getting a 2nd ab. Not a pinch hitter, yet no position in the game. Oh yeah, he has a position: Hitter. Murphy singles to drive in Davis. I would have been tempted to force the issue and try to plate 2 there. Score 7-7. Reyes lined out to a leaping, uh stretching arm raised Ibanez. New ball game.
Bottom of the 5th inning more bad luck. Check swing double from Vicki, yeah you read that right. Single to RF from Placebo lands right in front of a diving Beltran plates Vicki. Score 7-8. Walk to Jimmy brings up a hot Howard. Interesting to see what Collins does here with runners on 1st and 2nd 2 outs. With the shift on Boyer goes after Howard. Would Jerry have burned another man in the pen? Would he have abused Perpetual Pedro yet again? Boyer got Howard to ground back to the pitcher yet off his glove into dreaded no man’s land again, scoring a hustling Polanco. 7-9. Wow what bad luck. Inning ends with grounder right beside Boyer to Reyes. Lets see if the new look Mets can come back fighting yet again.
Mets go 1-2-3 in the top of the 6th and Fransisco rang the bell to lead off the bottom of the inning. Score 7-10, looks like a split. Boyer manages to retire the side to end the 6th. Mets do not provide much resistance in the top of the 7th, only a single from Davis. Beato replaced Boyer, the BB connection, and was the first Mets pitcher to retire the Phillies in order.
Mets go quietly again in the top of the 8th inning. Now Terry had to put Kr0d’s option aside. It has been a while since Krod blew that 2nd game of the year, in order to keep him fresh he had to use him. However, the only way he avoids a game finished is if the Mets manage a come back in the 9th. Interesting that Krod could actually pitch poorly and increase his chances of getting a game finished. Odd stat for so much money to be riding on. Krod held up his part of the deal holding the lead at 3 runs with the heart of the Mets order coming up to face Phillies closer Jose Contreras.
First batter Lenny Willie Harris, strikes out. Second batter David Wright gets ahead 3-0 only to pop up to a drifting 2B on the 3-1 pitch. 3rd batter Carlos Beltran walked. Fourth batter Angel Pagan down in the count 0-2 battled only to line out to Jimmy. Final 7-10. Really a game the Mets should have won. I am encouraged by the fact that they battled back to tie the game but with Halladay on deck tomorrow a win vs Blanton would have given the Mets a minimum of a series win. Now the Mets will look to do something they were unable to do in 4 attempts last season, beat Roy Halladay.
Next game: Tomorrow 3:00. Halladay vs Niese.
21 comments
njstuckintx
4/6/2011-10:59pm at 10:59 pm (UTC -4)
Oh Big Pelf… I can’t tell if he’s cracking under the pressure of filling number 1′s shoes or if he just is what he is. An OK pitcher with flashes of brilliance and flashes of, for lack of a better term, un-brilliance.
metsfan4decades
4/6/2011-11:20pm at 11:20 pm (UTC -4)
You know after Ollie, if I never heard ‘flashes of brilliance’ again, it would be too soon.
njstuckintx
4/6/2011-11:09pm at 11:09 pm (UTC -4)
Did Franky get a ‘game finished’? maybe we could see a count down on the side bar, counting down to the dreaded extension…
TRS86
4/6/2011-11:11pm at 11:11 pm (UTC -4)
yes in deed he did.
stickguy
4/6/2011-11:14pm at 11:14 pm (UTC -4)
what a sucky game.
I hate philly.
at least I will save time tomorrow skipping the sports section.
stickguy
4/6/2011-11:17pm at 11:17 pm (UTC -4)
could be worse. Could be red sox fans!
metsfan4decades
4/6/2011-11:19pm at 11:19 pm (UTC -4)
And to continue the discussion from the Dugout…..
….for a limited time here, I’ll go along with getting Pelf’s apparent annual slump over with early.
Seriously, this team does not have to have an obligatory head case. Ollie is gone. No need to pick up the slack, Pelf.
I listened carefully – twice – to his post game interview. He stepped right up with he was awful, worse than last start, let the BP down, let the offense/comeback go to waste.
He went right on with detail just exactly what the problem was. In his opinion, it was mostly all pitch selection. Wasn’t aggressive, strayed from his game plan, blah, blah, blah.
I have a hard time understanding if Pelf’s got a game plan, knows exactly what he needs to do to compete, why it doesn’t translate when he’s on the mound.
He did say he was all set to grab that pop up bunt and Wright yelled behind him ‘Let It Drop’. Which he did but panicked and threw it away.
Jeeze….you would think the art of repetition playing this game all his life he would not begin to develop the Yips at this advanced stage of his career.
On to the positives….the offense was great. Was very encouraging to see the comeback. Too bad the BP couldn’t hold it.
asod75
4/6/2011-11:25pm at 11:25 pm (UTC -4)
If there’s such a thing as an encouraging loss, this was it. The Mets showed a lot of fight tonight, especially given Pelf’s horrible start. Can’t help but think Pelf is what is he is, a No. 4 starter. Doesn’t miss enough bats and has too many games where he gets absolutely shelled, like tonight. Still, there seems to be something different about this team. Nice comeback tonight.
stickguy
4/7/2011-12:25am at 12:25 am (UTC -4)
well, if johan comes back functional, that is pretty much what he will be. the 4th best SP on the team. With a chance at 5, depending on who the last starter is!
hey, he is 3rd best right now.
asod75
4/6/2011-11:25pm at 11:25 pm (UTC -4)
And by the way, what happened to Grave?
njstuckintx
4/7/2011-12:00am at 12:00 am (UTC -4)
Sabbatical.
metsfan4decades
4/6/2011-11:35pm at 11:35 pm (UTC -4)
Interesting comments from Pelf after the game per Rubin:
“I just thought that I screwed around too much with too many sliders and too many curveballs — especially throwing two of the first five pitches curveballs,” Pelfrey said. “I can’t do that. Obviously that’s not my game. I’ve got to use the fastball and I’ve got to use the split. I didn’t use the split until the fourth inning.”
Still, Pelfrey did not particularly fault Josh Thole for the signal-calling.
“Ultimately it’s on me. I went along with everything. I didn’t shake,” Pelfrey said.
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Love Thole but with a rookie catcher, I guess you’d better have a pitcher on the mound who knows how to call his own game?
kistics
4/6/2011-11:47pm at 11:47 pm (UTC -4)
He said the exact same thing during one of his off season interviews on why he has one bad month. He said that he fell in love with his off-speed pitch too much and he needs to use his FB a lot more.
So if he knows what he’s doing, why is he doing it again?
I almost think that Pelf stopped using what got him to the big leagues. That’s his sinker! I did not see one good sinker tonight’s game. Maybe he’s trying to be a strike out pitcher?? Or perhaps the ‘Ace’ title has gotten to him? Whatever it is, Pelf, Thole and Warthen need to re think their approach because it’s clearly not working.
I know that Pelf can be an effective dominant pitcher. He has been that way last season with except for 1 month. I really hope he gets it back soon.
stickguy
4/7/2011-12:26am at 12:26 am (UTC -4)
I blame Jerry.
metsfan4decades
4/7/2011-12:29am at 12:29 am (UTC -4)
LOL
FIRE HOJO!
metsfan4decades
4/7/2011-12:29am at 12:29 am (UTC -4)
‘So if he knows what he’s doing, why is he doing it again?’
I think I asked this question about a dozen times tonight in the Dugout. No one including me had an answer.
Heard everything from ‘mental midget’ to changing delivery to changing speeds.
He used his sinker alot but it was awful tonight. No sink?
When Pelf figures it out I guess we’ll all know.
kistics
4/6/2011-11:53pm at 11:53 pm (UTC -4)
I think Thole and Wright are also partly to blame on that ridiculous bunt-pop up play. I saw Wright jumping up and down behind Pelf to let it drop. But I bet you that Thole yelled “FIRST! FIRST!”… Hope they can get this thing straighten out soon.
kistics
4/7/2011-12:00am at 12:00 am (UTC -4)
I love the fact that the team climbed back from 7 down. But I also think this was poorly played game defensively. I think it was poorly communicated game between the fielders. And outside of Beato and KRod, it was poorly pitched game. Tank and Boyer showed very good stuffs, but they also gave up hits in timely situations. Hopefully the poor play ends tonight.
Bryan
4/7/2011-12:16am at 12:16 am (UTC -4)
Gotta love the comeback. It seemed to happen pretty quick, and appeared almost effortless, of course Joe Blanton helped a great deal. I think a great deal of Pelf’s struggles are mental, and being tabbed as the team’s ace probably doesn’t help matters above the shoulders.
stickguy
4/7/2011-12:30am at 12:30 am (UTC -4)
he either needs to kick himself in the ass and rise above it, or his career is going to crash and burn. At least in NY.
gategem
4/7/2011-12:52am at 12:52 am (UTC -4)
I was pleased to see the team bounce back from a 7 run deficit. It would have been even better if the team won but the Phillies bullpen did a fine job tonight while the Mets bullpen was not quite up to the task.
Over the years I’ve seen many pitchers with considerable talent that lacked emotional maturity and what we call pitching “smarts.” Some have managed to elevate the mental part of their game to match their physical talent before the physical talent started to erode. Mostly they never put it all together, bounce from team to team and remain an enigma for most of their career. When Pelfrey pitches I try to study his mound demeanor and see what type of signal his body language is sending. On days or nights when Pelfrey does not have his best stuff and/or is pitching in a challenging environment he looks too much like the young Pelfrey. Whether he can or will elevate this portion of his game still remains to be seen.