Pelfrey Coming Into His Own

My last post, written a few weeks ago before the Mets-Giants series in San Francisco, was written at a time when starting pitching for the Mets was good, but not great- playoff worthy, but not championship material.

Truth was, the Mets starting staff wasn't getting the job done, and Jerry Manuel was putting too many innings on his bullpen. Since then, there has been a drastic improvement with the starting staff.

After not having a single pitch thrown by a starter in the 8th inning of a game this season, the Mets have had two pitchers go into the 8th this week, including a complete game by Livan Hernandez. John Maine has improved his pitch count management, and Johan has been, well, Johan.

However, the best revelation has been Mike Pelfrey. The 6' 7" righty has had a solid record all season- he started 4-0 and is now 4-1 - but the record was not indicative of his struggles. In Pelfrey's first four starts, he failed to complete six innings and had an ERA of 6.00.

His last four starts have been the exact opposite of his beginning. Pelfrey is 0-1, but sports an ERA of 2.28 over that stretch, allowing only seven runs in 27.2 innings. Pelfrey has also more than doubled his season strikeout total in his last two starts, recording 12 in those starts compared to 11 in the first seven. More importantly, his ERA has dropped to a respectable 3.88 and has dropped after each of his last seven starts.

Most comforting to Mets fans are two things: the team's 7-2 record when he pitches- whereas the team is 7-3 in Santana's starts- and the reintroduction of Pelfrey's curveball.

Former pitching coach Rick Peterson took the curveball out of his repertoire, instead having him focus more on his slider. However, in the last two starts, Pelfrey threw his curveball late in games and it proved effective, allowing him to go an extra inning or two.

The fact that Pelfrey saves his curveball for the third trip through the order, and opponents have had a very difficult time adjusting to the newest addition- well, it's really an old pitch- and it has acted almost like a second wind. Many pitchers today are told to throw everything early and often in games until you can't throw anymore.

However, Pelfrey's use of his pitches gives older fans flashbacks to a different generation, when pitchers held back one or two pitches to dominate hitters late in games.

This new look pitcher has clearly elevated himself to become the second best pitcher on this staff, and if he continues his strong stretch, the Mets could very easily have one of the best 1-2 punches in the National League.