Prior to Wednesday night’s rubber game against the Atlanta Braves, Mets manager Jerry Manuel reminded his starter Mike Pelfrey that he was a good pitcher. He also let him know that along with the fifty some-odd games remaining on the schedule, this particular one was very important, not only for the Mets as a whole but also for the struggling right hander who hasn’t earned a victory in more than a month: June 25th to be exact.
Since accumulating a 10-2 won-lost record with a save somewhere in-between to start the season, Pelfrey, along with his teammates have found themselves on the short end of a long list of opportunities. Pelfrey’s last seven outings, last night’s included, have produced six Mets losses. His once miniscule earned run average now reads 4.16 thanks in part to surrendering 31 earned runs in just 30 innings. The eight hits allowed last night by Pelfrey now add up to a total of 62 hits that were produced during his last seven starts.
Overall, Manuel felt that Pelfrey pitched better this time out. Further, the Mets skipper felt strongly that it was the right hander’s mismanagement of Atlanta’s three and four hitters, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann, last night which caused his starter’s undoing and not his overall lack of execution.
“It was bad, we didn’t play very well, we’re a better team than that,” Manuel said. “We have to find a way to get back on that track…we can’t kick it [the ball] around like that.”
The Mets infielders committed four errors, two by Jose Reyes alone. With last night’s 8-3 loss to the Braves, the Mets find themselves in third place seven-and-a-half games out.
Fortunately for the Mets, they have an off day scheduled for Thursday where they will be able to refresh and only hope to play better the rest of way.
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