What we talk about when we talk about Mike Pelfrey

There is nothing like beating the Phillies at home to make you feel better about being a Mets fan. Dickey looked great Friday night going 7 innings and giving up only one run on 9 hits. Last week we looked at Dickey's numbers against the Phillies and established the player he dominates the most as Hunter Pence and is most hit by to be Carlos Ruiz. Dickey continued to dominate Pence taking the Sillies best hitter to an 0-4 night and allowed only one hit to his arch nemesis Chooch. Dickey now has an ERA of 2.08 on the year and is showing all the signs for another good season.

The game on Sunday however was not very pretty. What is it about Mike Pelfrey? When you look at his line after the game, he clearly had a good outing. He went 6 innings giving up 8 hits and a run. But when you when watch the game, it looks like a total disaster. He gets hit early, he loads the bases and he gives up hits with 2 outs. It really begs an interesting question: Do I judge Mike Pelfrey more harshly because watching him is stressful or because he actually puts the team in dangerous situations? I honestly don't know. If Pelf gives up 8 hits but all of them happen early or in 2 out situations is that really any worse than giving up the same 8 hits spread out a little more? It's an interesting question that I will continue to try and answer as the year goes on.

The bullpen was atrocious on Sunday, in a combined 2 innings Acosta, Ramirez and Batista gave up seven runs on six hits. All three of these guys however have shown some pretty good skills in the past and shouldn't be too harshly judged. Ramirez especially I am hoping to see some good things from. He has a career k/9 of 7.59 averages about 70 IP a season and has a career xFIP of 4.34. He has always contributed a positive WAR and even gotten as high as 1.9. Obviously not the most stunning numbers but certainly good enough and the very definition of a guy who should be able to contribute acceptable to good middle relief, which is exactly what we need of him.

Finally, David Wright returned from injury and hit .555 this weekend raising his season average to a sparkling .571 on the season, over 100 points higher than Matt Kemp.