They say that the flap of a butterfly’s wing can change the course of history. But the roar of Marlins fans everywhere chanting “Who’s Your Daddy” at Mike Pelfrey will change … well, nothing. Because there’s like three Marlins fans and I’ll take my chances with the butterfly. But the Marlins are Mike Pelfrey’s daddy as they’ve beaten him for the 937th consecutive time (that includes spring training, strat-o-matic, and Playstation 3) by a score of 6-0.
Pelfrey threw six scoreless innings, and probably should have been lifted after he barely got out of a jam in the sixth. But he remained in the game for the seventh and it all came apart, partly because of a sacrifice bunt by the Marlins that the Mets turned into drunken ninja night.
“I screwed that up,” Pelfrey said. “Any time that an infielder gives ‘open glove’ you’re supposed to pick. And, if not, step off. I threw home. That’s why there was no one at first. That’s two screw-ups in that inning (including walking No. 8 batter John Buck after Cameron’s leadoff double). That’s all on me, and I ended up paying for it.”
No, Pelf. I paid for it … with a piece of my soul … much like I do every time I’ve watched you pitch this season. I have no soul left watching these games down the stretch and listening to Kevin Burkhardt go position by position talking about next season. That didn’t start last season until the middle of September. Now we’re not even in September and we’re looking ahead to the next disappointment. That’s the drain where my soul has gone down.
Watching Pelfrey throw six scoreless innings then give up five runs (with the help of the bullpen) is the story of the season. There’s always that one inning where he just gives up the farm, and if the Mets don’t have the lineup to deal with a guy like Javy Vazquez (who came in with eerily similar stats to Pelfrey), then it’s a recipe for disaster. Then we’re stuck hearing about how Pelfrey deserved better after pitching such a great game. I for one hardly call six hits and four walks in six innings (not to mention the five runs) a “great” game. Then we also have to listen to reason about how Pelfrey just needs do the little things right in a lost season. Stepping off the rubber or throwing a pickoff on an open glove seems like a little enough thing to me. But he can’t even get that right. You don’t get much more little than that unless you count lining up the buttons right on the uniform and getting to the park without crossing over into Connecticut. Do you trust Pelfrey to do that?
And did you see Mike Stanton’s home run off D.J. Carrasco? The one that Stanton hit into the Pepsi Porch the opposite way? Boy, you have to be really strong or face a terrible pitcher to do that. Years from now, when the seasons bleed together, we’ll all be convinced that Carrasco was an Omar Minaya move since we have to put up with one more season of this. But if it was Minaya, D.J. would have gotten a $48 million contract in 2013 vested in automatically if he had pitched in a night game on Tuesday where the humidity was over 40%. That he didn’t get this represents a “step in the right direction”.
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