The Game

The New York Mets pushed their winning streak to four with Friday night’s 2-1 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. With the win, the Mets maintained their one game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East.

Mike Pelfrey made his first career start against the Pirates and, apparently, that was all he needed to get back on the winning track. Actually, Big Pelf got some help from his teammates on Friday night in the form of stellar defense. After taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first before Pirates rookie Jason Davis was even able to record an out (on a David Wright RBI single and a run scoring wild pitch), the New York offense would be shut out for the rest of the game.

Although far from being at his best, Mike Pelfrey battled through seven innings and managed to keep the Bucs off the board. Pelf scattered seven hits and didn’t walk a batter while only striking out one. Of note defensively, David Wright turned a nice double play to get Pelf out of a second inning jam. In Pelfrey’s last frame, center fielder Carlos Beltran gunned down Adam LaRoche at the plate to keep Pelfrey’s shutout intact. It was a great throw, but he would have been out by a mile had Beltran been playing a normal center field (instead of positioning himself on the warning track as he usually does). I kid, I kid.

Things got a little dicey in the eighth inning as the beleaguered Met bullpen came on in lieu of Pelfrey. Duaner Sanchez was the first to come on in relief and he was immediately greeted by a Jack Wilson solo homer. It was the light hitting Wilson’s first home run of the year. After Sanchez and Pedro Feliciano got through the rest of the eighth inning unscathed, Aaron Heilman came on to close the door in the ninth. Andy LaRoche lead off with a harmless ground ball to first that Carlos Delgado missed, but second baseman Argenis Reyes was right behind him backing up the play. Reyes bailed Delgado out by tossing to Heilman who beat LaRoche to the first base bag. Heilman would allow a two out walk, but that would be all as he induced a pop up from Jack Wilson to put it in the books. In my opinion, this game took on the feel of a game the Mets would typically choke away as the innings progressed and New York was unable to tack on to their lead. Good to see them hold on as the pressure mounted. Saturday brings us a rematch of Monday’s debacle as the resurgent Pedro Martinez squares off with the Pirates’ Zach Duke.

The Haiku

Mike Pelfrey stars as
The Pitcher That Ate Pittsburgh
with Heilman’s support

The Boxscore

The Win Probability Added Graph

The Credits

Recap by Chuck Buono
Haiku by Howard Megdal