Mets Game 56: Win Over Pirates

Mets 9 Pirates 8

It was an exciting, dramatic, come-from-behind victory the likes of which we haven’t seen in 11 years.

But was the win a direct result of Terry’s tirade? And what is wrong with Mike Pelfrey?

Mets Game Notes

I’d like to say that the Mets were motivated by Terry Collins’ temper tantrum from the evening before; it would make a nice story. But I can’t say that in full conscience after seeing more sloppiness in the first two plays of the game and watching the team fall 6 runs behind in the first two frames. Yes, they didn’t give up — but giving up was never the issue with this 2011 Mets team. The issue is fundamentals, and the team remains flawed in that respect. No amount of anger, fire, or brimstone from Terry Collins’ mouth is going to make the Mets more fundamentally sound or scare players into being winners and/or team players. It’s not the type of thing that can change overnight — as much as we’d like it to be. But for the moment, we can bask in the fable that Collins’ conniption resulted in a dramatic come-from-behind win; it won’t hurt anyone to feel that way.

Back to reality … Mike Pelfrey was awful. I’ve come to the decision that Pelfrey must still be hurt. If you remember, Big Pelf was getting shot up with pain killers before every start last year due to a shoulder injury. I’m betting that shoulder is still barking, based on his ineffectiveness and his dramatic drop in velocity (he was riding around 90-91). I’m also betting that the pain in his shoulder is the reason for his mechanical adjustments, which in turn negatively affect his command. That’s my theory, anyway.

I did not see this game live, which stinks for me; those who did see it live were treated to something special. That said I won’t comment further on the ballgame as you likely already know the story from seeing it or reading about it elsewhere. Just one note: can we assume that Carlos Beltran is NOT one of the players who Bob Ojeda would like “weeded out”? Or is Beltran one of those guys who does his job and goes home?

Next Mets Game

The Mets host the Braves for a three-game weekend set beginning Friday night. Jon Niese takes the ball against Derek Lowe. Game time is 7:10 PM.