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July 1, 2010 Mets 2010 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 78: Win Over Marlins

Mets 6 Marlins 5

Crazy things can happen in San Juan.

Strange things occurred before the game even started — Jose Reyes was held out of the game after experiencing “back stiffness” during batting practice. The blame was placed on the hard astroturf surface at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. This would be the same hard astrotuf surface that the other 49 players have been playing on for the last three days. But hey, everyone is different.

Then, rainfall delayed the start of the game. OK, that’s not necessarily crazy, but it added to the plot.

When the game finally began, Jesus Feliciano was in the leadoff spot and Ruben Tejada in the two-hole. Somehow, however, the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, things did not go well with almost-ace Mike Pelfrey, who left the contest before finishing the fifth. Elmer Dessens finished it for him — recording one out on the evening yet winding up with the victory.

A lot of stuff happened in between, including 17 hits by the Fish. When the dust settled, however, it was the Mets who gained the win — their 44th of the season.

Game Notes

Mike Pelfrey allowed 12 hits, a walk, and 4 runs in 4 2/3. He did strike out 3, though, so there was that.

Although Dessens was given the win, the trio of Ryota Igarashi, Bobby Parnell, and Frankie Rodriguez combined to allow one run over four frames. So really, the entire bullpen should’ve been credited with the victory.

Despite scoring 6 runs on 10 hits, no one really stood out on the Mets offense — it was more or less a full team effort, as 8 Mets collected at least one hit. David Wright and Jesus Feliciano had two apiece. Both of Wright’s hits were doubles, and Feliciano hit a double of his own.

Josh Thole drove in a run with a pinch-hit single for the second time in the series. He keeps this up and he could carve himself a niche in the big leagues. Remember Matt Franco?

Next Mets Game

Thankfully, the Mets return to the continental United States on Thursday to begin a four-game set with the Nationals in DC. Game one begins at 7:05 PM and pits Johan Santana vs. 2009 Met Livan Hernandez.

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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. gary s. July 1, 2010 at 9:06 am
    thank goodness we didn’t get swept by the marlins.they are saying that pelfrey has a dead arm.if that’s really true, why don’t the mets just skip his turn one time and give him a little extra rest.the last 3 starts, he looks like a mediocre pitcher.jesus feliciano doing a nice job in cf since his call up.he makes contact and is ok defensively.why did gary matthews make the team over him in the spring?why did jacobs win the 1st base job.why were maine and perez given spots in the rotation after they were horrible in the spring?we have squandered a lot of games this year due to bad front office decisions, by the way after watching chris carter throw the ball from right field like an 80 year grandmother, i will never push him to get more starts.i love his bat and intensity, but he is strictly a hitter who should used as a pinch hitter for the mets or in the american league as a dh.
  2. Mike July 1, 2010 at 10:08 am
    Not for nothing gary but Mike Pelfrey was the worst starting pitcher in camp this spring. Spring stats don’t mean as much as contracts and not having a clear alternative defined. No one would have predicted Takahashi and Dickey were going to be this successful at this point. I think your point is why did we go into camp with Maine and Ollie and Jacobs and GMJ as projected starters. That I cannot answer and agree was stupid.
  3. isuzudude July 1, 2010 at 10:42 am
    If Pelfrey is going through a dead arm faze, I wonder if the Mets will encourage him to skip the all-star game, if he is indeed selected.

    I’m also beginning to wonder if the Mets are playing the same games with their roster as they did last year by keeping Angel Pagan idle on the bench for so long after he sustained his oblique injury. Because now with Reyes’ injury, the Mets are leaving themselves short on the bench by carrying around dead weight. With this team’s history, I’d much prefer to err on the side of caution and DL Pagan even if it kept him out of action longer than he needed to be, instead of forcing him back pre-maturely only to risk further injury while stashing him on the bench to be nothing more than a spectator.

  4. Joe July 1, 2010 at 12:16 pm
    Mike – good point on Pelf. If you go back to some of my posts in March, I was definitely concerned about Pelf’s lack of performance. As it turns out, he was probably just a function of working on the split and other secondary pitches — and making mistakes. And one cannot learn w/o making mistakes.

    ‘dude – considering how well Jesus Feliciano has been doing (“the backup to the backup”), you have to wonder why the Mets won’t just DL Pagan. That kind of injury can hang around a long time w/o rest. Good point.