This season Pelfrey has been great there’s no denying that. This was an important season for the Mets and Mike Pelfrey after his disastrous 2009 season. This is the Mike Pelfrey we thought we would have last year after his 2008 season in which he won 13 games. In fact in 2008 the year that the bullpen killed the Mets you can argue that Pelf should have had at least 15 wins. The Mets expected big things from Pelf in 2009 so much so that they made Pelf the number 2 guy in the rotation.
I don’t know if the problems Pelf had last year had something to do with his promotion in the rotation or outside factors such as expecting his first child. Whatever was wrong with Pelf it has now been picked. Pelf comes out to take the mound and he looks in control. Gone are the balks when men are on base! Gone is the habit of walking around the mound when something does not go his way! Gone is the consistent palm licking!
The 2010 Mike Pelfrey is a confident pitcher. If a batter gets on it no longer spooks him. He concentrates on getting the next batter. If there is one game this season that shows Pelf has grown up it was this past Sunday’s. Pelf from the start did not have his best stuff. He let 3 runs score early on. In 2009 that’s a recipe for disaster. Thankfully it’s 2010 and Mike Pelfrey is a different pitcher. He made some adjustments on Sunday and was able to battle his way through 6 innings, holding the Orioles to just 3 runs.
A lot of people have been waiting for Big Pelf to come back to 2009 form but I believe that version of Pelf is gone! Whenever Pelf takes the mound I and I’m sure most Mets fans feel confident that the Mets are going to win the game. Pelfrey is pitching like an ACE! I have been vocal on my Twitter and Facebook accounts the last few weeks saying in my eyes Mike Pelfrey is the ACE of this staff. Besides the bad start against the Phillies which he was the victim of bad defense he has not looked bad at all. He has been averaging 6.2 innings pitched so far this season. Let’s not forget that he has stepped up to help this team as well such as in that 20 inning game in which he came out to pitch the final inning and got his first career save.
Big Pelf is the real deal. He’s our future ACE and I hope that once this season is over the Mets will do whatever it takes to lockup the big man long term. Big Pelf has become the pitcher we all knew he can be and I can’t wait to see him develop his game even more as a Met!
