congrats, pelf

According to Adam Rubin, Mike Pelfrey has been named the NL Player of the Week.

His maturation has been something to behold. What a stud.

nine in a row

Why does there have to be an All Star break? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend recap: I didn’t get to see Friday’s seeming nailbiter of a game as I was out celebrating a friend’s birthday with Korean BBQ and then–seeing as we were in Koreatown–karaoke. I paid $12 for a Jameson neat. Are you kidding me with that bullshit, I thought, and then realized that I needed the Jameson in order to sing, like, “Summer of ‘69″ and whatever assorted crap we all did (I did manage a lovely duet w/ Beth of my favorite ever song “Be My Baby,” so go me). I checked my phone for scores off and on throughout the night, and when I saw a 2-1 victory, I praised yet another solid Ollie Perez performance and the Mets’ continued winning streak.

Thanks to the generosity of Bill W, one of my four readers, I attended the game on Saturday. I remarked to Bill at some point during the game–as cheers were showered on every player, rhythmic two-strike claps filling the stadium, people getting out of their damn seats without having to be coerced–how the atmosphere at Shea has changed so much since the last time I was there, not even a month ago. A month ago, you had jeers and groans and the bullpen coughing up runs and the offense leaving men on base and a fanbase seemingly bored and compelled to accept mediocrity. Three weeks later the tension has lifted, the players look crisp, balls are finding gaps with men on base and two outs, scrubs like Tatis and Easley and Chavez and Argenis Reyes and Nick Evans are making stellar plays and driving in the big boys, the big boys are hitting like they’re supposed to, and by God, the pitching has been lights-out. Times like these, the cheers flow easily.

As for Sunday, the late starting time worked out pretty perfectly for me: Along with a whole mess of other hipster fools, I went to McCarren Park Pool for the free Breeders show and stood in line for about an hour and half just waiting to get in. I finally get in and stand in a beer line for about fifteen minutes. I get my beer and just as I take a sip, the Breeders start their set. I ended up seeing my ex-something Anderson, along with a bunch of his Masshole friends, four guys and two girls. So I ended up hanging out with dudes with the following names: Andy, Marky, Mikey, Johnny, and Sully (I don’t know his real name, and holy hell is that a joke or what). It was like NKOTB 2 or something. At one point, Marky left and returned holding three beers. “Thanks,” I said, reaching for one. “No, these are all mine,” he bellows in that horrific accent I love so much. Show’s over and I head home, just in time to hear the Mets begin play. Roommate comes home, we drink more beer and listen to the game together as we talk about girls (well, he talked about girls at least) while I intermittently raised my hands in triumph thanks to a home run or double play or strikeout.

And what’s there to say about Mike fucking Pelfrey? His confidence and dominance is a sight to behold. If I ever get me a Paypal account, I’m buying one of them shirts.

phenom vs. phenom, big one wins

I had a chance to go to last night’s game, as a bunch of my friends (ALL except one being from the Bay Area, ugh, I’ve never known more Northern Californians in my life than I have in New York, what the hell is that about?) got tickets to see their precious little Timmy Lincecum. Stan asked if I wanted to “go see Pelfrey again,” and after complaining earlier this season (as well as early last season) about Pelf, I responded “Actually I would. He’s been amazing.”

And he has. Unfortunately I had a prior commitment, but got to witness/hear most of the game. It was a funny little match-up; Big Phenom vs. Little Phenom, a guy drafted 9th in 2005 vs. a guy drafted 10th in 2006, both of them 24, both future-of-the-franchise type pitchers (with one excelling faster than the other). Howie Rose made an interesting comment that these two (but Lincecum especially) seemed to be pitching with a kid’s mentality, a playground challenge. Except Big Pelf got the best of Tiny Tim today. Pelf strikes out Tim with an inside curve; Tim throws the same to Pelf in the next inning, only to see Pelf get a hit.

It’s been dazzling to see Pelf pitch this way over the past few starts. He got into a jam in the first inning (thanks in part to a Damion Easley error) but came out of it unscathed and flew from there. This is not the Pelfrey you would have imagined earlier this season or last season. In fact, it sounds like Lincecum.

Lincecum also got into a bit of a jam in the first inning, but instead of working out of it, he threw a bad curve to Carlos Beltran, who shot it out of the park for a three-run homer. This is not the Lincecum you would have imagined earlier this season or last season. In fact, it sounds like Pelfrey.

Having a lead–especially against a lowly offensive team like the Giants–certainly only helps inspire confidence. But not only that, Pelfrey is pitching like a confident young man, and just rolled right through the meek Giants lineup, allowing only ONE hit into the outfield all night. ONE. And the offense wasn’t done either; Delgado would hit a bomb, Beltran would single in Argenis Reyes (who got the first hit of his ML career, leading to some funny shenanigans from Tatis), Easley would drive in Beltran, and then just for kicks on a night the Jets were honored at Shea, Tatis kicked the extra point.

Johan Santana must’ve been thinking, “Why can’t they do that shit when I’m pitching?!?!?!?” Because don’t look now, but Pelfrey hasn’t lost in eight starts, and his won his last five. Santana hasn’t won in six starts, and has lost four of those. Much of that, certainly, has to do with the offense. Hopefully the Mets, who have gotten double digit hits in seven of their last eight games, can provide Santana with enough of a cushion so that he can grab himself a win and put things back on track. Otherwise, I’ll have to repeat a notion from earlier this season that I found ludicrous but true: Pelfrey is our ace.

And I for one am glad to see it.

Looking pretty studly nowadays, eh?

SHUT THE FUCK UP, OH MY GOD

or, for the fans of brevity: STFU, OMG

Scoreboard watching the game today and am quietly stunned to myself regarding Mike Pelfrey’s performance (while being flabbergastedly unsurprised by the lack of Mets offense). Then someone goes: “Pelfrey’s pitching a no-hitter!”

Me: GROOOAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Aaron Boone: /hits single

DON’T YOU PEOPLE KNOW NOT TO MENTION THAT SHIT OMG STFU.

But good job, Pelf. Let’s hope the bats wake up.

Update: JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THIS FUCKING TEAM.

I don’t know that I’ve ever cheered on a team whose players I love so much who, collectively, piss me off/make me tear my hair out/disappoint me so/break my heart. What incredible bullshit this game was.

ladies and gentlemen, the ace of the staff

…is, at this early juncture, this man:

Yes, Mike Pelfrey–the guy who wasn’t even supposed to make it out of spring training–currently leads the team in wins and ERA. And he’s become our stopper. THE Mike Pelfrey?! Yes.

What was so dazzling about Pelfrey’s performance tonight was that he built upon his impressive debut. He looked more confident and pitched better and, even more importantly, he hung in there when previously he would have crumbled. Afforded a two-run lead thanks to David Wright, Pelfrey kept the Mets ahead as they flat-out refused to score with RISP (or, more specifically, with Jose Reyes on third base–way to welcome him back, guys!). He was almost never tested this game, except for the third inning: bases loaded and one out, he gets Ryan Zimmerman to pop out and Nick Johnson to strike out. That, my friends, was pure cojones. And finally, it was great to see how many groundouts Pelfrey got tonight. Proof that his stuff is working. I am overjoyed by his performances so far this season.

So that middle portion of the game when the Mets couldn’t execute and add on some runs was entirely excruciating, another damn rewind to the weekend against the Brewers, but Pelfrey kept them ahead and eventually the Mets would finally get Reyes across home thanks to David Wright in the bottom of the seventh. For good measure, Wright would double in Castillo and Church in the bottom of the ninth. Great offensive performances by Reyes (a homer short of the cycle) and Wright (5 RBI); when these two are hitting, the team’s in good shape.

Duaner Sanchez finally–FINALLY!–came back to the team and pitched scoreless ninth. Hopefully this win will be a building block for this team: the return of Sanchez, the re-emergence of Wright and Reyes, and the continuing development of Pelfrey are great narratives that should bode well for seasons to come.

Lastly, funny/slightly surprising to hear the boos to Lastings Milledge, who was caught trying to steal third and showcased some subpar defense. I am totally fine with Ryan Church in his stead.