NEW YORK METS: Avoiding .500 Like The Plague.
Mike Pelfrey Continues To Beffudle The Club and Fans With Another Below Average Start.
The elusive .500 thresh-hold; their portal to competitiveness and player retention; remains lurking in the shadows just beyond the sight and reach of the New York Mets. Grainy images of Big Foot are clearer than the Mets' focus on a balanced record is right now. They just can't seem to be able to capture the mythical level of mediocrity.
Mike Pelfrey didn't help. The enigmatic hand-licker went pffft! again yesterday against the Texas Rangers. He stuck out like a Lone Star Dud over his six innings of work. Eight hits; four earned runs; two walks and three strikeouts were enough to drop his record to 4-6 this season.
Manny Acosta's relief work was horrendous but the damage had already been done. The Mets only mustered one run on eight hits against Texas in losing 8-1 to last year's American League Champs.
I said this just before yesterday' game and Mike Pelfrey's start:
Part of the problem I have with him is his former pitching coach; Rick "Simon Bar Sinister" Peterson, and a philosophy of throwing everything off the fastball action. Fastballs; sliders; and sinkers all look the same with regard to arm action. The problem is it's too easy for batters to guess right; and for batter to guess wrong, and still get it right. If Mike Pelfrey's sinker isn't pounding downward in the strike zone, batters foul off pitches at will against Pelfrey and sit on a juicy pitch over the plate.
There is no true deception in this style repertoire. It's more of a guessing game. But like I said, it's easier to guess right, and one can even be effective when guessing wrong because the speed of the pitch is relatively the same.
The package-o-fastballs; sliders; and sinkers are designed to swing and miss; hence, the swingable strike. I believe it to be a flawed philosophy. I am a big proponent of the curveball. Fastball; change-up; curveball; and location; that's me. Sliders are great but only when they slide and they work off the fastball. And there in lies one of Pelfrey's biggest problems; he isn't over-powering anyone with his fastball.
I hope I'm reading this all wrong and Big Pelf shuts-out the Texas Rangers; and shuts me, up.
Well, a day later, you can be the judge. I think I said enough on the subject.
Mike.BTB
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