New and Improved Mike Pelfrey?

If I didn't know it was Mike Pelfrey pitching yesterday afternoon, I might not have believed it. Not only did Big Pelf become the first starter to get an out in the 7th inning, he looked great. I mean, really great. He didn't allow a run - bringing his ERA to a team-low 1.38 - and even though he committed a balk, he didn't let it derail his concentration. On top of that, he also helped himself out with an RBI single.

This is almost a complete turn around from last year and I'm thrilled with it. Who would have thought Mike Pelfrey would turn into a stopper? The Mets desperately needed a pitching performance like that (you know that the bullpen and Jerry Manuel breathed a collective sigh of relief when Pelfrey actually completed seven innings) and it seemed to spark the team a bit. I said that I considered Mike Pelfrey to be the X factor of the starting five... and if he continues to put together outings like that, it will be everything I could have possibly hoped for coming from him. I don't know if the fact that he was dropped to the number 4 starter in the rotation took some pressure off of him or created a challenge to prove himself, but regardless he seems to be in a really good place.

Last thing - I know I complained about signing 5 different catchers this off season, but Pelfrey gave Henry Blanco a ton of credit yesterday:

“He’s pretty unbelievable back there. I’m probably not as good as he made it look, but, he did a good job. Another thing about him that was huge is he came over to me between innings… we communicated, and I think that’s huge for learning.” (excerpt posted by Matthew Cerrone and taken from metsblog.com).

I still don't believe there was a coherent plan in place this off season, but it seems like the Mets did at least one thing right.