Tag Archives: Mike Pelfrey

Aug 29

A Lot To Like About Matt Harvey, Who Doesn’t Remind Us Of Mike Pelfrey

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It is premature to say Matt Harvey will surpass Dwight Gooden and become one of the Mets’ career aces. Even so, there’s a lot to like about him, which we can enjoy watching tonight in his start at Philadelphia.

HARVEY: A lot to like. (AP)

Harvey is already in the Mets’ history books with 43 strikeouts through his first six starts. That’s an average of seven a game – and only once did he work past the seventh – is indicative of potential dominance. If he gets nine strikeouts tonight, he’ll pass Gooden’s mark of 51 strikeouts in his first seven games, set in 1984.

Harvey’s money-pitch is a high fastball that has hitters wailing in the air. Harvey has shown an ability to “climb the latter,” and the higher he gets in the strike zone the harder it is for hitters to resist. It is if the ball is teasing the hitters, saying “swing at me.”

Doing so subsequently enables him to so far be effective with his secondary pitches. That’s something Mike Pelfrey has been unable to consistently master. It has been a small sample, but Harvey is ahead of Pelfrey at a similar stage of their careers. Who knows? He might already be ahead of Pelfrey.

There are all kinds of numbers to measure a pitcher’s dominance, and ESPN posted hitters are batting .085 (6-for-71, 43 strikeouts, 10 walks) when Harvey gets two strikes. That’s slamming the door.

The inability to put a hitter away when the count is in the pitcher’s favor has been something Pelfrey, John Maine – he burned out quickly – Bobby Parnell and a few others haven’t been able to master.

Harvey’s emergence makes it more and more unlikely the Mets will re-sign Pelfrey, who is making $5.68 million this season while on the disabled list. Knowing that number would be the bottom of what the tight-fisted Mets would pay, and with Harvey and a few others knocking at the door, strongly suggest the Mets will walk away.

 

Jun 29

Mets On Upswing Again; Chris Young Stars

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I know I became doubtful after the first two games at Wrigley Field. Please forgive me. I promise I won’t doubt the Mets again. At least, until the next time. The Mets have been up-and-down all year, and last night was more of the same.

Another upswing.

They got another good outing from Chris Young, which probably reinforces the notion we’ve seen the last of Mike Pelfrey. David Wright remained hot, and Bobby Parnell blew away the Dodgers in the ninth.

With R.A. Dickey and Johan Santana going the next two games, one must like their chances of winning this series. Then again, both Dickey and Santana were roughed up in their previous starts.

I don’t know what Young’s future is with the Mets. If he remains healthy, he should be brought back because this isn’t a deep staff and the younger pitchers can learn from him. I suggest it might be easier to learn from Young than the unconventional Dickey.

As far as Pelfrey is concerned, he’s fallen into ”the too-injured-too unproductive-and-too pricey” category. He’s too young to just cast off, but the dollars will dictate it in the end.

 

May 25

Mets Can Make Hay With Long Homestand

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The Mets got their season-long 11-game homestand off on the wrong foot last night, but at the quarter-pole of what was supposed to be a lost season they are sitting three games over .500. They have by far exceeded all expectations, so there’s no reason to get frantic over a slip or two.

Currently, the Mets are making do with four substantial players down by injury in Mike Pelfrey, Ruben Tejada, Josh Thole and Jason Bay. They are getting by with very little from Ike Davis. Andres Torres and Lucas Duda aren’t hitting to what was hoped. Conversely, nobody expected David Wright to still be over .400. We are at the point of the season where the BA numbers should be going down.

More on a bright note, but bullpen has been torn and frayed.

Even so, the Mets keep plugging away and if they can get their injured back – save Pelfrey – by the end of the homestand it could dictate for a promising summer.

The Mets have shown a resiliency and grit we haven’t enjoyed from them in recent seasons and here’s hoping it can continue.

Speaking of resiliency, I have not been what I expect of myself. This surgery has taken a toll. I realize I have missed posts and remain thankful to Joe DeCaro for posting for me. Over the years I’ve developed some loyal readers who have entertained and informed with their comments. I know I can’t go this alone much longer, so if there is anybody who would like the keys to the blog and initiate your own posts I’d like to talk with you.

Please send me an email at jdelcos@yahoo.com. Please include your phone. Let’s talk.

 

May 05

Mets Bullpen An Issue

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This is why you don’t make declarations during the first week of the season, or for all of April for that matter. The season opened with four straight victories and four strong performances from the bullpen.

After Opening Day, the talking heads as SNY – and that’s not the game broadcasting crew – started pontificating about how the bullpen would be a team strength this season.

Four weeks later, you don’t hear talk like that anymore.

Last night they threw away a strong effort from Dillon Gee. Once again, the focus in on control, as a walk from Tim Byrdak with a man on lead to Arizona’s three-run rally in the eighth inning. Yes, the walk was important, but it was also one batter.

“That’s the thing that sticks out the most,” Collins said. “The base on balls out of the pen have certainly come back to really bite us.”

The bottom is two-fold. One, walks kill and they always have. And two, these guys are major league pitchers and can’t fall apart after one bad at-bat. That’s been a problem with Mike Pelfrey, and it also applies to the bullpen.

Where the pen attacked hitters early, lately they’ve been working deep into counts and losing the at-bat. The pen has been worked hard in recent weeks with the starters not going more than six for the most part and the loss of Pelfrey.

Jon Rauch blew the save and took the loss last night, but wouldn’t blame it on an increased workload. He said it was poor pitching.

“You can’t come in and throw balls and expect to get everybody out after that,” Rauch said. “So we’ve gotta do a better job. I know personally I need to do a better job, especially coming in with guys on base and not letting inherited runners scored.”

Glad to hear there were no excuses, but it would be even better to see improved execution.

Once four games over .500 and sensing optimism about the season, the Mets have lost four straight and are counting on Johan Santana – the pitcher they seemingly refuse to score for- to stop the slide.

Regardless of what happens today, success this season largely depends on the bullpen holding up its end. And, that’s not a premature pronouncement, but a statement of fact that can be made any time of the year.

 

May 03

Mets Must Sort Out Rotation And Houston Mess

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Terry Collins spent much of the day deliberating his options regarding Chris Schwinden and the Mets’ rotation. After two rocky starts in place of Mike Pelfrey, Schwinden has proved not to be the answer.

After yesterday’s blowout, Collins wouldn’t say if Schwinden would come out of the rotation. He didn’t say he’d remain, either.

The Mets’ tissue paper thin depth was always going to be an Achilles Heel this year and it has come to pass. There are pitchers doing better than others on the minor league level, but nobody screaming for a promotion.

One option might be to keep Schwinden in the rotation in the hope he works out of this or if Chris Young is ready.

Whether it be on the minor league level or unsigned scrap heap free-agent, the odds against the Mets landing a workhorse in the rotation seems slim. I would have liked the Mets to sign a pitcher in the off-season, but that’s 20/20 hindsight.

There wasn’t a lot of things to like about the Houston series, although listening to the “Eyes of Texas,” during the seventh-inning stretch was good to hear, including David Wright’s comment the Colorado series drained the Mets.

That can’t happen, which Wright acknowledged and is a good sign. No excuses, said Wright, the Mets just played flat.

“You know, we knew we were going to have some ups and downs, especially with a lot of the young guys that we have on this roster playing right now,” Wright told reporters. “But this is what we need to fix if we want to become the team that we think we are capable of becoming. There are way too many inconsistencies right now. It seems like we play great for a series and then poorly for a series. And we’re going to have to straighten that out.”

One of the flaws of recent Mets teams has been their inconsistency. Win three, lose four. Managers constantly say they want their teams to just win series, one at a time. Win two or three, win three of four.

That is what the Mets did in 2006 and for five months in 2007.

Of course, consistency is easier to attain with better pitching which leads us to the hole in the rotation. The key game in the Houston series was the Jon Niese game. R.A. Dickey pitched well the previous night and Schwinden was awful. The game they needed to salvage the series was Niese’s start and he was anything but solid.

Growing pains? That all depends on how the Mets respond. Coming up are Arizona and Philadelphia, both good tests.