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July 8, 2008 Mets 2008 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 90: Win Over Giants

Mets 7 Giants 0

A splendidly satisfying win from every angle.

If there was a negative, it was that Mike Pelfrey didn’t finish his shutout.

“Big Pelf” was spectacular, spinning seven strong innings of scoreless ball. He allowed only three hits, walked none, and struck out five, expending 113 pitches in the process. From my angle, he looked strong enough to keep going, but I guess there wasn’t much point, what with a six-run lead and arms at the ready to finish up. Also encouraging, Pelfrey threw a few curveballs. That’s right — that demonic breaking pitch eschewed by former pitching coach Rick Peterson. And it didn’t look half bad. Scary to think what Mike will do if he can add even a decent curve to his repertoire.

On the offense, Carlos Beltran was the star, going 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, highlighted by his 14th homer of the season. His offensive explosion came on the same day he was lambasted here at MetsToday. Coincidence? Maybe. I’m thinking about “personally attacking” every player on the 25-man roster if it will result in that kind of performance.

The Mets lit up freak of nature Tim Lincecum from the get-go, beginning with Beltran’s three-run dinger in the first frame. They added an insurance run in the sixth on Carlos “I Hate MetsToday Too” Delgado’s solo homer. Beltran and Damion Easley hit RBI singles to tack on another two in the seventh, and Fernando Tatis closed the scoring with a solo blast to centerfield in the eighth.

Notes

Scott Schoeneweis and Joe Smith pitched two perfect innings to finish the game, throwing only 15 pitches (11 strikes) in the process.

Jose Reyes stroked two hits to get his average over .300 on the year. Tatis and Delgado also collected two hits apiece.

Prior to the game, Ryan Church was placed on the 15-day DL because of migraines. Nick Evans will be brought back up from AA to take his place on the roster. Evans is 7 for his last 14 for the B-Mets, and is hitting .311 on the season with 14 homers, 18 doubles, and 7 triples in 296 ABs. Not too shabby.

Next Game

The Mets host the Giants again at 7:10 pm, with Johan Santana facing lefty Jonathan Sanchez.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. sincekindergarten July 9, 2008 at 4:33 am
    I had a feeling that they would light up Lincecum–actually, I placed the odds at 50%. One thing I like about Lincecum is that he’s my height. Throwing as hard as he does at my height is something.

    Anyway, I hit the hay after Pelf’s seventh. One can argue that Big Pelf is the most consistent starter the Mets have right now. With Hole Camels giving up 2 HRs in Phillthy, and the vaunted Phillthy offense scoring no runs for him, we’re 1 1/2 games out.

    Someone needs to remind JRol of his boast for this year (“I think we can win 100 games.”) . . . because obviously, Carlos Beltran has remembered his boast (“Tell Rollins that we’re the team to beat now.”).

  2. isuzudude July 9, 2008 at 6:19 am
    Good points SK – I was thinking about the Beltran/Rollins war of words during spring training this past weekend, and I’d have to give the edge thus far to Beltran. The overall records show that the Phillies are still technically the team to beat, but head to head this year so far the Mets are 7-3 vs Philly while Beltran has arguably had the better all-around season. Still a lot of season yet to be played, though.

    Yo, I think it’s seriously time a lot of us here sat down at the dinner table and eat a hearty helping of crow as it pertains to Mike Pelfrey. It was pretty much around the time he lost his 6th straight decision on May 26th against Florida that many of us were clammoring for him to be sent down to AAA because he had no chance of putting himself together at the major league level. Well, since that time Pelfrey is 5-0, he’s dropped his ERA a point and a half, and the Mets are 7-1 in his starts. Seriously, we could not have been more wrong about this guy. It would really be interesting to look back at the time between that May 26th game and his following start on the 31st and see what could have caused him to have such a dramatic turnaround. Was it Pedro coming back? Was it instituting a new pitch in his repitoire? Has it been lack of facing strong offenses? (Hint, Hint: Joe, feel like doing a little research?)

    On one final front: not sure if I concur with the move to bring back Evans. I mean, we lost a left hand bat, why bring up a righty? Evans and Tatis are pretty much the same guy, and then throw in Chris Aguila to the mix and now the bench becomes right hand heavy. With Endy playing everyday now, it makes Marlon our only true lefty off the bench capable of playing the OF. Perhaps a better fit would have been John Rodriguez, a lefty OF with pretty good pop for New Orleans. Maybe Evans will go back down when Trot Nixon is ready to be activated (or, dare I say Moises Alou?), but I hate to see the Mets burning through a pretty good prospect’s options so quickly.

  3. Aramos212 July 9, 2008 at 8:05 am
    I’m just curios to see if Mr. Beltran’s grammar was acceptable last night?
  4. joe July 9, 2008 at 9:00 am
    Aramos, glad you stopped by again.

    Tell me, though … why are you so stuck on my criticism of Beltran’s grammar but let me slide on bashing Keith Hernandez?

  5. isuzudude July 9, 2008 at 9:50 am
    “Curios?” I can’t speak for Joe, but although Beltran’s grammar might have been acceptable, your’s surely is not, Aramos. I kid, I kid.
  6. joe July 9, 2008 at 9:58 am
    I won’t spank for typos here … lord knows I’ve made my share ….

    Perhaps Evans was promoted because the Mets will reactivate Trot Nixon? I think he’s eligible to come off the DL on the weekend.

  7. sincekindergarten July 9, 2008 at 12:30 pm
    ID, I think that there was one or more media outlets that had the reason for Big Pelf’s and Ollie’s resurrections being a talk that Pedro Martinez had with each one, to point out flaws in their deliveries. Big Pelf took what Pedro offered and applied it immediately. Ollie, OTOH, was too busy with his hand-held video game during the flight from San Francisco to San Diego to listen to Pedro, and wound up a start or two behind Big Pelf. However, the fruits of Coach Martinez’ observations have started to make their showings.