Mike Pelfrey Keeps Sinking, Chris Carter Keeps Rising

Mike Pelfrey had another rough outing today as the Washington Nationals beat the Mets 7-5.

Pelfrey allowed four home runs giving up two homers each to Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham. Zimmerman hit a booming solo shot in the first and a two-run shot in the fifth, while Willingham had a solo shot in the second and a two-run homer in the fourth.

Pelfrey has now allowed 22 hits and 12 earned runs in 14.2 innings pitched, and his spring ERA now stands at 7.36.

Meanwhile, Chris Carter continues to make a case for making the opening day roster as ha banged out another three hits today raising his spring average to .444 to go with a 1.556 OPS. In ten games he has collected 5 runs, 3 homeruns, 8 RBI’s and 19 total bases.

While I can fully understand the wisdom in sending Ike Davis down for more seasoning despite his hot spring, but at this point it would seem like a grave miscarriage of justice if Mike Jacobs (.174) or Daniel Murphy (.133) keep Carter from making the team. Plus, at least if Carter makes the team, I won’t feel too bad when the Red Sox draft the two first rounders that should have been ours, or Billy Wagner starts racking up saves for the Bravos with his newfound 100 mph fastball.

Back to the starting pitching…  

I’m really starting to get concerned with the performances of all our locked-in starters…

With about two more tune-ups left for each of them before the season begins, I hope we can see some encouraging signs that will not leave me wondering why we didn’t make offers to a host of solid pitchers in the offseason. You know the ones I mean… The ones that weren’t as good as what we already had…