The Mets get set to rebound from a pretty bad week of baseball tonight, when they take on the Baltimore Orioles.

Mike Pelfrey (4-2, 4.68 ERA) Pelfrey was locked in for the first six innings against the Phillies on Wednesday, allowing two hits and one run. Things unraveled in the seventh, though; he surrendered three hits before being removed. All three runners scored, eliminating Pelfrey’s chance for a fifth win. Now, Pelfrey makes his first career start at Camden Yards and against the Orioles. He has a 2-0 record and a 6.00 ERA in three career Inter league starts, all on the road. The right-hander’s road ERA in 27 innings this season is 6.33. (mets.com)

Pelfrey will be opposed by right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, who is struggling mightily after a strong start. Guthrie began the year 2-0 but has dropped six of his past eight decisions. The Orioles are 4-9 in his 13 starts.

Here is the tonight’s lineup:

  1. Alex Cora – SS
  2. Fernando Martinez – LF
  3. Carlos Beltran – CF
  4. David Wright – 3B
  5. Ryan Church – RF
  6. Gary Sheffield – DH
  7. Daniel Murphy – 1B
  8. Brian Schneider – C
  9. Luis Castillo – 2B

Today’s Rant

I’m really becoming frustrated by the first base situation and I can’t understand why Daniel Murphy remains with this team instead of getting some everyday playing time at Buffalo. He is absolutely lost at the plate and it makes no difference to me if you make an out while looking at 7-8 pitches per at-bat or 5-6 pitches per at-bat, an out is an out and Murphy is batting .192 in his last 104 at-bats. He can look at all the pitches he wants but what does that matter when the end result is a weak grounder or a shallow popup?

Also, now that we have established the fact that the Mets are not a homerun hitting team and have nobody in their lineup that you would call a true homerun hitter, couldn’t we shuffle our lineup so that at least our best hitters get the most at-bats?

Would it be so terrible to have Beltran batting second, Wright batting third and Sheffield batting cleanup? Dies Fernando Martinez really warrant more at-bats than Beltran and Wright?

I have no problem with Cora and his .360+ OBP leading off for now, but shouldn’t we get our better hitters to move higher in the lineup at this point? Especially when we are having such a tough time scoring runs?

Game Notes

Gary Sheffield will continue to play through his sore right knee, as an exam by team doctors at Yankee Stadium on Sunday showed that the Mets’ outfielder didn’t need an MRI, according to The New York Post. Oh gosh, not again… How much you want to bet he ends up going for an MRI anyway inside of 7 days?

Matt Cerrone had an interesting post that said Jon Heyman believes the Nationals may be one of the only sellers come the trade deadline. He also writes that the Nats would want a boat load for Adam Dunn or Nick Johnson. Mets people have acknowledged that Dunn is one player who would have no problem hitting homers at Citi Field.

I want to thank Ed Leyro and Rob Silverman for their great historical posts on Tom Seaver and Keith Hernandez yesterday. They went above and beyond the call of duty with two excellent posts that we were privileged to present to you. Thanks guys for articulating both those memorable trades as eloquently as you both did. You honor this site with your talent.