Tonight was Mike Pelfrey's night, from beginning to end.
Pitching Performance
Nine very strong innings for Pelfrey in his first complete game of his career.
Simply beautiful.
Pelfrey allowed one run in the third inning on a single. The other two runs were added in the sixth, one on a double play and the other on a wild pitch. Pelfrey only allowed three hits, walked three, and you guessed it, struck out three.
Threes were wild tonight. Pelfrey's line: 9 innings, 3 hits, 3 run, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 3.86 for the year.
What more is there to say? He threw only 108 pitches in the nine innings, but only 62 went for strikes. He looked great. I called that tonight was going to be special on Mets Lounge when I said "I have a good feeling about tonight."
We're finally seeing Pelfrey blossom into everything we expected from him, and more. I thought the Mets wanted to limit his innings down the stretch as he's reaching unknown territory with his innings count, but he kept coming out and proved why he should be out there.
Offensive Output
The Mets jumped out early in the first, as they almost always do, for five runs aided by some terrible play by the Braves defense.
Daniel Murphy drove in the first runs of the game, singling in Carlos Delgado and Argenis Reyes, who continues to impress me with his glove and his bat. Fernando Tatis bounced a ball to third, which Chipper Jones fielded and threw wide. Tatis was granted a single, driving in Carlos Beltran, and moved to second on the throwing error that allowed Murphy to score.
Pelfrey then helped his own cause, serving a single to right field, driving in Tatis.
I absolutely love when the Mets score early and often. No better way to shake the opposition then to put a beating on them in the first.
Jair Jurrjens did settle down nicely after the disaster first, only allowing one more run the rest of the way. That run came on a David Wright solo shot to deep left field, well into the bleacher section.
Good stuff, but I wish the team could continue scoring runs when it's not the first inning. It's bitten them before and it will bite them again. Whatever Jerry Manuel says in the locker room before the game, he should reissue that statement before the third, sixth, and ninth innings.
The Rest of the Story
Almost a sub-two hour game. Clocked in at 2:08.
Murphy was the only Met to strike out.
Chipper Jones accounted for two of the three Braves K's.
Game Ball: Mike Pelfrey.
