Will the real Mike Pelfrey please stand up?

Remember how I said Mike Pelfrey needed to make a statement last night? Well, I wish he'd retract it. Pelfrey was awful, throwing 74 pitches and allowing 6 runs over 1.1 innings. Needless to say, this outing combined with the currently anemic offense lead to a 13-2 rout in the desert. I have no idea what's going on with him right now, but he seems to have regressed into Crazy Pelf. The quick, efficient pace at which he was working to start the season has completely disappeared, and despite what Jerry Manuel says, I think his confidence has too. Ron Darling made some interesting comments regarding Pelfrey last night. He said that Pelfrey seemed to be aiming the ball rather than picking a quadrant of the strike zone and attacking it. Darling believes Pelfrey has been taking a passive approach to pitching, saying, "You gotta go out and win the games - the wins won't come to you."

I like this theory and attitude. When we talk about pitchers being frustrating, we're saying the same things for the most part: he's not throwing strikes, seems to be afraid to go after hitters, and doesn't have the right mindset on the mound. Right now, Mike Pelfrey is the embodiment of all these things. I'm not sure where or how exactly he lost his way, but he has to get back on track because there are enough tenuous pieces in the rotation as it is - we don't need Big Pelf having a breakdown.

As for the offense... it's just getting depressing. It seems like we can't string together hits OR come through with runners in scoring position. Jason Bay always seems to be slumping - even when he's hitting - and at this point, I'm not holding out hope for any big offensive resurgence. I'm going to consider any production we get from Bay a bonus, even though we signed him to be a major part of the offense. The poor showing in San Francisco didn't worry me as much because at least the Giants are competitive. The Diamondbacks are a last place team - the kind of team GOOD teams beat.

I'll be looking for R.A. Dickey to right the ship tonight. I don't think we could have possibly asked for anything more out of Dickey, but at the same time, I can't shake the feeling that we're rolling the dice too many times by continuing to send both Dickey and Takahashi out as starters.