Joey's Soapbox: It's Always Labor Day For Mike Pelfrey

Greetings and salutations, Mets fans!  This is Joey Beartran, taking a break from doing nothing on a day that commemorates the sacrifices and contributions of workers who have done everything.

Today is a perfect day for me to discuss the problems I have with Mike Pelfrey, a pitcher who labors more than any other on the mound.  So grab your end-of-summer cold drink, sit back on that Mets inflatable chair you have but never like to admit you own (it's in the closet next to your Kaz Matsui bobblehead - the one you couldn't even sell on eBay), and prepare to hear what I have to say from my soapbox.

When Mike Pelfrey was drafted by the Mets with the ninth pick of the 2005 MLB June Amateur Draft (directly ahead of current blossoming major leaguers Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen and Jay Bruce), he was expected to become a dominant pitcher for the Mets for many years.  After all, his final season at Wichita State University produced a line that seemed to suggest that the Mets were right in choosing Pelfrey so early in the draft (12-3, 1.93 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 143 Ks in 139.2 IP).

Pelfrey was a ground ball pitcher with a mid-to-upper 90s fastball, the type of pitcher that made scouts drool with his potential to be a top of the rotation starter.  The Mets couldn't wait to see that potential for themselves and decided to bring him up to the majors just six months after signing Pelfrey.  (Although the Mets drafted Pelfrey in June 2005, he did not sign his first contract with the team until January 2006 due to ongoing negotiations.)  That was their first mistake.

The Mets were able to slug their way to victory in Pelfrey's major league debut, clubbing the Marlins 17-3, with Pelfrey allowing three runs (two earned) in five innings of work.  Big Pelf made three more starts for the Mets that summer, but showed that he wasn't ready for the majors yet.  In four starts, Pelfrey's ERA was 5.48 and he posted a 1.73 WHIP.

Pelfrey's minor league numbers in 2006 and 2007 were actually very good.  In those two years, he went 10-9 with a 3.11 ERA, striking out nearly a batter per inning (167 Ks in 176.1 IP) and allowing fewer hits than innings pitched (81 hits in 96.1 IP in 2006 and 79 hits in 80 IP in 2007).

Still, the bottom line is that Pelfrey only made 33 starts in the minor leagues, pitching less than 200 innings below the major league level.  He did not receive enough minor league seasoning (even Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden pitched over 200 innings in the minor leagues before being called up for the first time) and was rushed to the big leagues because the team was in need of starting pitching.  It may have stunted his development and turned him into the mediocre pitcher he is today.

The fact of the matter of this.  Mike Pelfrey, strikeout pitcher in college and the minor leagues, can't strike out his own mother.  He has never struck out more than 113 batters in any full season in the major leagues and is striking out barely over three batters per start this year (29 starts, 93 Ks).  Also, the ground ball pitcher he used to be has apparently left the building.  That's not the only thing leaving the building, as Pelfrey has already allowed a career-high 19 HR with a month of baseball left to play in 2011.

That, combined with a steady increase in walks (Pelfrey walked 64 batters in 2008, 66 in 2009, 68 in 2010 and has walked 59 batters in 2011 with four potential starts remaining), has made Pelfrey more of a hit-and-miss pitcher rather than the star pitcher he was supposed to be when the Mets drafted him six years ago.  Unfortunately, for Pelfrey and the Mets, there have been too many hits (by opposing batters) and not enough misses.

With 189 hits allowed in 171 innings this season, Pelfrey is on track to record his sixth consecutive season with more hits allowed than innings pitched.  That would make him the first pitcher in Mets history to do so.

There have been 26 pitchers to pitch a minimum of six seasons for the Mets (including parts of seasons).  Of those 26 hurlers, only five of them allowed more hits than innings pitched during their tenure in New York.  Those five pitchers are:

• Al Jackson (1,033 hits in 980.2 IP)
• Ed Lynch (815 hits in 730.1 IP)
• Bobby Jones (1,255 hits in 1,215.2 IP)
• Steve Trachsel (967 hits in 956.1 IP)
• Mike Pelfrey (934 hits in 854 IP)

Jackson, Lynch, Jones and Trachsel all had at least one season in which they allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, with Jackson accomplishing the feat once (1968), Lynch twice (1981, 1985), Jones four times (1993, 1994, 1997, 1998) and Trachsel three times (2001, 2002, 2003).

Mike Pelfrey is the only pitcher to have pitched at least six seasons for the Mets and given up more hits than innings pitched in every single one of those seasons.  In fact, only John Franco, who pitched in New York for 14 seasons (1990-2001, 2003-2004), allowed more hits than innings pitched in five different seasons.  Pelfrey is on his way to becoming the first Met to do it six times and he only needed six years to do it.

When Mike Pelfrey takes the mound, he always finds a way to make his effort more laborious than it should be.  How many more 30-pitch innings can the Mets take from their 27-year-old "ace"?  How many more five-inning, nine-hit, two-strikeout performances will Pelfrey engineer before the team realizes that he'll never the starter they wanted him to be?

The stats don't lie, my friends.  Throughout his Mets career, Mike Pelfrey has been an opposing hitter's best friend when he's been out on the mound.  If his overall record (50-52, 4.38 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) doesn't spell it out for the Mets, perhaps this will.

Pelfrey's 4.38 ERA in 142 starts is the highest earned run average of any Mets pitcher who has made at least 100 career starts for the team (Al Jackson is second with a 4.26 ERA in 138 starts) and Pelfrey is the only Met with at least 100 starts to have a WHIP over 1.40 (Steve Trachsel is second with a 1.38 WHIP).

Six years is a long time to be given a "trial run".  It's clear that Mike Pelfrey will never be a great pitcher.  At best, he will be an innings eater that will keep teams in ballgames provided that team has some kind of offense.  But the Mets haven't had "some kind of offense" since their last days at Shea Stadium.  In fact, offense and Citi Field aren't two terms that are generally seen in the same room together.

If Mike Pelfrey is ever going to succeed at the major league level, he will most likely have to do it on another team.  He's already left his mark in New York.  Unfortunately, that mark is at the bottom of a number of the franchise's all-time pitching categories.  Mets fans have been forced to watch Mike Pelfrey labor his way through a great deal of his 142 starts.  They shouldn't be forced to do so in 2012.

Mets Pitchers Can Help Jose Reyes Win A Batting Title

Jose Reyes has been on the disabled list for a week and a half now, his batting average frozen at .336 since injuring his hamstring on August 7. Despite this being his second trip to the DL, he has managed to maintain his lead in the National League batting race, although he is facing fierce competition from Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, who is hitting .329 entering tonight's series opener at Citi Field.



The Mets have never had a batting champion in their first 49 seasons. John Olerud had the highest single season batting average for the Mets, hitting .354 in 1998, but he finished second to Colorado's Larry Walker (.363) in the batting race. Cleon Jones and Dave Magadan also came close, but fell just short of the crown. Jones hit .340 in 1969, finishing third behind Pete Rose (.348) and Roberto Clemente (.345). Magadan hit .328 in 1990, also finishing third in the NL batting race behind Willie McGee (.335) and Eddie Murray (.330).



So with Reyes clinging tenaciously to his slim NL batting lead, his teammates might be able to help him out this weekend. Ryan Braun, who has hit .375 (48-for-128) over his last 34 games, dating back to June 29, will be facing Mets pitching this weekend. If Mike Pelfrey, Chris Capuano and the Tweeter-rific R.A. Dickey can shut Braun down over the next three games, Reyes will increase his chances of becoming the first Met to win a batting title.



Braun is probably licking his lips with the knowledge that he's facing Mike Pelfrey tonight. Over his five year career, he is hitting .500 (3-for-6) against Pelfrey. (Then again, who isn't hitting .500 against Big Pelf?). However, he has yet to collect a hit against Capuano (0-for-3, 2 strikeouts) and Dickey (0-for-7). Against all Mets pitchers currently on the roster, Braun is hitting .245 over his career with only one home run in 56 plate appearances. The Mets will need to continue this trend against Braun if Reyes is to maintain his lead in the batting race before he comes off the DL.



Note: For a player to qualify for the batting title, he needs to accumulate 3.1 plate appearances for every game played by his team. Therefore, if the Mets play all 162 games this year (barring any rainouts not made up), Reyes would need 502 plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. At the time of his injury, Reyes had accumulated 462 plate appearances, leaving him 40 short of the magic number for batting title qualification, a number he should easily reach within the first week to ten days following his return from the disabled list.



Over their first half-century of existence, no Mets pitcher has ever been able to throw a no-hitter. At least if they can't pitch a no-no, they can help a fellow Met achieve something that no other Met has ever done. Holding Ryan Braun off the bases this weekend will go a long way towards making that a reality.

Texas Two-Step (Part I): Coop & Ed's Tex-cellent Adventure

Last year, the cast and crew of Studious Metsimus embarked on a world tour. No, we didn't tour with Weezer (although that would be super-sweet). Instead, we toured the country following the Mets to different ballparks. We attended games at Camden Yards (Baltimore), Nationals Park (Washington), AT&T Park (San Francisco) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh), cheering for the Mets every step of the way. (We also ventured to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, but that city doesn't need to be linked out to here.)

This year, we decided to pack our bags and take a trip to Texas. Who's "we"? Why, it's yours truly, along with correspondent Taryn (Coop) Cooper, culinary expert/investigative reporter Joey Beartran and his sister, Iggy. (Joey and Iggy's report will be featured in a separate piece.)

We followed the Mets to Texas, where we were told everything is bigger. Apparently, that statement was spot on, as our smiles and Mets' pride were never bigger than they were in Arlington.

Photo by Sharon Chapman, who joined us in Texas with her family. Thanks, Sharon!

Scheduling (and this thing called a "day job") prevented us from attending the finale of the three-game series between the Mets and the Rangers, but we were able to go to the first two games. We can skip over the first game, which was another off-day for Mike Pelfrey and the bullpen. Then again, the final result (an 8-1 loss by the Mets) was nothing new for Big Pelf, as his road woes are no longer a secret.

So let's move on to the middle game of the series. After the first loss, the Mets had sunk to two games under .500 for the millionth time this season. But Jonathon Niese was on the mound for the Mets against the Rangers. Unlike Pelfrey, Niese has had more success on the road (10-7) than at home (8-11) and it showed. Then again, even Victor Zambrano could have won the game with the fireworks supplied by the Mets' bats.

Who needs the long ball? Chicks dig singles as well.

The Mets pounded out 17 hits, with nary a home run in sight, en route to a 14-5 thrashing of the Rangers. The 14 runs represented a season-high for the Mets, who desperately needed a game in which the bullpen was either not used or used in a less stressful environment.

Unfortunately, with Jonathon Niese succumbing to the heat, it was up to Bobby Parnell and DJ Carrasco to finish the game. Jason Isringhausen was not called upon because he was too busy playing with his big red ball and Manny Acosta was on bathroom security duty (see photos below).



While we are the game in our Mets gear, we were actually heckled by four Rangers fans. That's right, not everyone in Texas is polite. The first three fans apparently got together before the game because all they could come up with was "BOOOOO" as we walked by.

The fourth fan was a little more original with his insult, as he showed his extensive knowledge of pronouns with his "BOO YOU" epithet. Then again, perhaps he wasn't being derisive to us at all and was just stating the college he was attending. (BOO U, anyone?)

We did have to give credit to one Rangers fan who actually was quite creative in expressing his love for his team, dressing as a masked Lucha Libre fighter called "El Rangerdoro". He posed for some photos with us, where he showed off his signature "chokehold while wearing batting gloves" move and his ability to point at the camera. (For those of you who still thinking wrestling is real, I regret to inform you that the pointing was indeed choreographed.)



Although we couldn't attend the final game of the series, we did go out to the ballpark that morning to take some exterior shots of the ballpark and its surroundings. We didn't run into any players entering the stadium, but we did run into long-time Mets' PR dude, Jay Horwitz. (I assure you he's in one of the photos below.)





To recap our trip to Texas...

It was hot. No, seriously. Just look at that wet stain on my Mets T-shirt in the collage of photos above. That didn't come from the guy who attended BOO U.

Jon Niese did wonderfully in his start, despite sweating through his uniform (perhaps nervous that El Rangerdoro was waiting for him outside the visitors' clubhouse).

Manny Acosta might have a new job in sanitation soon if he continues to give up runs at an alarming rate.

Arlington has a really great ballpark. No joke needed there. It's just a really sweet park.

From the tributes to Nolan Ryan (including the large statue in center field of the Ryan Express doffing his cap) to the frequent fireworks (not all of them came from the Mets' bats), our ballpark experience was one to remember. It was indeed (dare I say it) a Tex-cellent adventure!

Mike Pelfrey: Standing Tall At Home

Look at the photo to the left. That was the linescore from last night's game, a complete game victory by Mike Pelfrey in which Big Pelf was voted co-player of the game with Carlos Beltran (who hit a monster two-run homer that was estimated at 460 feet).

It was the first complete game of the season for a Mets pitcher and the first by Pelfrey since 2008, when he pitched all nine innings in back-to-back starts on August 20 and August 25. What do those games in 2008 and last night's game have in common? All three efforts came at home. In fact, over his career, Big Pelf has stood quite tall at home, while wilting on the road.

Since coming up to the Mets in 2006, Mike Pelfrey has made 128 starts, going 47-46 with a 4.35 ERA, numbers that suggest a mediocre pitcher. However, his home/road splits suggest that Pelfrey is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type pitcher, as he performs surgery in his home uniform, but hides his talent in his road grays.

In 71 career home starts, Big Pelf is 29-21 (.580 winning percentage) with a 3.53 ERA. At Shea Stadium and Citi Field, he has given up fewer hits than innings pitched (446 hits in 450.2 innings) and has allowed only 24 home runs. The road is an entirely different story.

Mike Pelfrey has made 57 starts on the road. In those games, Pelfrey is 18-25 with a whopping 5.50 ERA. He has given up 392 hits in 322.1 innings and has allowed 38 home runs. Opposing batters hit .307 against him on the road, as opposed to .260 at home.

The home/road disparity has been more pronounced this year, as Pelfrey is undefeated at home (3-0) with a 2.96 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. Opponents hit .220 against him at Citi Field and he has allowed four home runs in 48.2 innings. On the road, Pelfrey becomes Little Pelf, going 1-5 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.52 WHIP, allowing a .308 batting average and nine home runs in 41.1 innings.

Pelfrey's home/road splits are reminiscent of John Maine, the former Met right-hander who finished his career in New York with a 39-32 record and a 4.17 ERA. However, Maine was 22-14 with a 3.61 ERA at Shea Stadium/Citi Field and 17-18 on the road with an ERA a shade under 5.00.

Mike Pelfrey was regarded as a top prospect when he was first called up to the Mets in 2006. But while he has shown flashes of brilliance (13-11, 3.72 ERA in 2008, 15-9, 3.66 ERA in 2010), he has never been able to sustain that brilliance for an entire season's worth of games.

Pelfrey is the dictionary definition of a streaky pitcher. When he's hot, he's unhittable (see April 2010). When he's not, he makes fans wonder why he's still on the team (see April 2011).

If Mike Pelfrey is ever going to become a true ace (not the de facto ace because the team's true ace is out until who knows when), he must be able to translate his brilliance at home into road success. He can't forget to pack his talent in his suitcase when he's about to board a plane to another city. To be fully successful, a pitcher has to be consistently good all of the time. If a pitcher like Mike Pelfrey is going to be a success half of the time, then he's going to be the first syllable of the word "success" the other half.

Mike Pelfrey is better than that. He just has to stand tall on the road to fully realize his potential.

Joey's Small Bites: Be Careful What You Wish For

Last night I was at Yankee Stadium hoping to see the Mets take the second game of the Subway Series (and sampling some tasty Yankee Stadium chicken nachos, as you can see from the photo to the left). If you read my post-game recap, you'd know that I was complaining about how the Yankees can only score runs when they hit the ball over the wall. After all, they had scored more than half of their runs on homers. No other team in baseball based their offense on the home run more than the Yankees. (Arizona was second, scoring 38% of their runs on homers.)

I wasn't the only one to notice this, as today both SNY and the YES Network brought it to their viewers' attention. (Thanks so much for sharing that with your viewers, but I kinda beat you to the punch.)

So apparently the Yankees must have read my post last night. How else could you explain what happened in the seventh inning today in the rubber match of the Subway Series? Let's set up the situation in case you were doing something else like doing the math to figure out when the next "End of Days" was going to be.

The Mets were leading 3-1 going to the bottom of the seventh inning. On Friday night, the Mets held a 2-1 lead going into the seventh inning and went to their bullpen. Mike O'Connor, Jason Isringhausen and Francisco Rodriguez combined to retire all nine Yankee batters to face them to preserve the victory for R.A. Dickey.

Today, Terry Collins left Mike Pelfrey in the game to start the seventh inning. A few minutes later, the tying runs were on base with no one out. Did Collins take out Pelfrey there so that he couldn't lose the ballgame even if both runs scored? No, he left him in there to face Francisco Cervelli, who was trying to sacrifice the runners to second and third. Cervelli sacrificed his body instead, getting plunked by Pelfrey's first pitch near his left shoulder.

So did Collins take Big Pelf out then? No, he left him in to face Derek Jeter, who has the highest batting average against the Mets of any player in history. Of course, Jeter promptly singled up the middle to tie the game. A few batters too late, Collins popped his head out of the dugout and removed Pelfrey, but the damage was done. Actually, the damage was just beginning and some of it was my fault.

If you remember, I kept making fun of the Yankees for not being able to manufacture runs. Prior to the seventh inning of today's game, the Bronx Bummers had only scored one run all series without the benefit of a home run. Then came Derek Jeter's two-run single. That was followed by every bloop and bleeder you could imagine. By the time the inning was over, the Yankees had scored eight runs to turn a 3-1 Mets lead into a 9-3 debacle. It was enough to drive a bear to drink. And drink. And drink some more.

I have no idea what's going on.

So to recap today's game, the Mets had the lead for most of the game, the Yankees told me to "take my blog and shove it" and I'm about to throw up.

At least the Mets won't have to play at The House That Juice Built until next season. I don't think I could take another series of Yankee fans teaching us how to count to 27. (Yes, we know how many championships you've won. We're also aware of your IQ. You don't need to tell us both at the same time.) Let's hope things finish for the better when the Yankees visit Citi Field in July. Let's also hope I feel better by then. I might have to lay off the chicken nachos for a...a...HWAAAARRRRFFFF!! (Excuse me.)

For Mike Pelfrey, The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

Mike Pelfrey is entering his sixth season with the Mets, compiling a 43-41 record over his first five seasons in New York (43-42 after his Opening Day loss to the Florida Marlins). Although Pelfrey is just 27 years old, there have been only 17 pitchers in franchise history who have won more games than Big Pelf.

More than likely, Pelfrey will continue to move up the all-time wins leaderboard as his career progresses, but how much longer will he pitch for the Mets, especially if he continues to give up base hits at an alarming rate?

Consider the facts. In his first two starts of the 2011 season, Pelfrey has given up 12 hits in 6 1/3 innings, a rate of nearly two hits per inning. Let's compare that to the 17 pitchers who rank ahead of Pelfrey on the all-time club leaderboard for wins.

1. Tom Seaver (12 years, 198 wins): no seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
2. Dwight Gooden (11 years, 157 wins): one season with more hits than innings pitched.
3. Jerry Koosman (12 years, 140 wins): no seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
4. Ron Darling (9 years, 99 wins): one season with more hits than innings pitched.
5. Sid Fernandez (10 years, 98 wins): no seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
6. Al Leiter (7 years, 95 wins): no seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
7. Jon Matlack (7 years, 82 wins): one season with more hits than innings pitched.
8. David Cone (7 years, 81 wins): one season with more hits than innings pitched.
9. Bobby Jones (8 years, 74 wins): five seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
10. Steve Trachsel (6 years, 66 wins): two seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
11. Tom Glavine (5 years, 61 wins): four seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
12. Rick Reed (5 years, 59 wins): two seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
13. Craig Swan (12 years, 59 wins): four seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
14. Bob Ojeda (5 years, 51 wins): one season with more hits than innings pitched.
15. John Franco (14 years, 48 wins): five seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
16. Tug McGraw (9 years, 47 wins): two seasons with more hits than innings pitched.
17. Jesse Orosco (8 years, 47 wins): one season with more hits than innings pitched.

Dwight Gooden's sole season allowing more hits than innings pitched was 1994. That was his final season in a Mets uniform. Ron Darling also had one such season in his career, which came in his final full season as a Met (1990). In 1977, Jon Matlack suffered his first season with more hits than innings pitched. He never did it again as a Met because that was his final year in New York. The only year in which David Cone gave up better than a hit per inning was (you guessed it) his final season (2003), when he allowed 20 hits in 18 innings.

Bob Ojeda and Jesse Orosco also finished their Mets careers with only one season giving up more hits than innings pitched. In both cases, that season came in their final year with the Mets.

Of the seven pitchers who allowed more hits than innings pitched in multiple seasons (Jones, Trachsel, Glavine, Reed, Swan, Franco, McGraw), all but one of them accomplished the feat in his final full season in New York. The lone exception was John Franco, who barely missed, allowing exactly one hit per inning in 2004 (46 hits in 46 innings pitched).

So that brings us back to Mike Pelfrey. How many times do you think he's allowed more hits than innings pitched over a full season? Once? Twice? Take a look at his career numbers below:

• 2006: 21.1 innings pitched, 25 hits allowed.
• 2007: 72.2 innings pitched, 85 hits allowed.
• 2008: 200.2 innings pitched, 209 hits allowed.
• 2009: 184.1 innings pitched, 213 hits allowed.
• 2010: 204.0 innings pitched, 213 hits allowed.
• 2011: 6.1 innings pitched, 12 hits allowed.

Mike Pelfrey has allowed more hits than innings pitched in EVERY SEASON that he's pitched in the major leagues! Judging by his start this season, he might be on his way to his sixth consecutive season allowing more hits than innings pitched. Of the 17 pitchers who rank ahead of Pelfrey in career victories as a Met, none accomplished the feat more than five times.

Because of Johan Santana's injury, Pelfrey is now the de facto No. 1 pitcher in the rotation. But looking over his career numbers, the only thing Pelfrey is No. 1 in is allowing base hits. Considering the fates of other Mets pitchers who gave up more hits than innings pitched, especially late in their careers, Mike Pelfrey should be careful when he turns around. Another team's uniform might be gaining on him.