3 Up, 3 Down: “Oh, What A Night” Edition

The Mets won the final game of the three game weekend series in Philadelphia early Monday morning, by the score of 2-1 in 14 innings. It was a night to remember as we all learned that our troops had finally discovered the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and killed him.

The crowd at Citizens Bank Park which was filled with Mets fans as well as Philly fans were united and together they all burst into a chant of “USA, USA, USA”. I couldn’t help but think how appropriate it was to have the announcement made during a Mets game with Bobby Valentine on hand. He of course, managed the Mets during those dark days on September 11, 2001.

Back to baseball, this series all came down to pitching. We all know that Citizens Bank Park is a bandbox and we expected some high scoring games. But with the exception of Friday night’s game, that was not the case. Today’s 3 Up and 3 Down is all about the pitching.

3-Up

1) Chris Young: He pitched a gem on Sunday night, going 7 innings giving up no runs on only two hits. I think we can make the case that Chris Young is now the number one guy on the Mets pitching staff. Young has a 1.88 ERA in four starts.

2) Jon Niese: On Saturday afternoon, Niese had his best outing of the young season going 6 1/3 innings giving up two runs on only six hits. Niese has looked solid his last few outings now.

3) Pedro Beato: For his performance on Sunday night, into Monday morning going 3 innings and giving up no runs on only two hits. He has not allowed a run in 17 innings pitched.

3-Down

1) Mike Pelfrey: Pelfrey once again had a bad outing on Friday night, going only 41/3 innings and giving up four runs. One thing is clear, Pelfrey is not the number one guy we thought he was going to be. If he was sick and unable to go on Friday night, he should have told Terry Collins he couldn’t pitch, and the Mets could have given the start to Dillon Gee. Pelfrey’s ERA is 7.39, which ranks 59th out of 60 starting pitchers in the NL.

2) Dillon Gee: Gee gave up a grand slam to Ryan Howard on Friday night, putting the game far out of reach for the Mets. Gee went 1 2/3 innings give up four runs on 1 big hit.

3) The Phillies Pitching Staff: The banner on this blog says it’s a blog for “Die-hard Mets fans and as a die-hard Met fan, I can’t feel good about our guys having to battle against this incredible rotation our arch rival has assembled. Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay are arguably two of the greatest pitchers in the game today, and the prospect of having to face such a lethal 1-2 punch whenever we face the Phillies for the foreseeable future is a big ”down” for Mets fans.