Another Dud at Turner Field for the Mets

The Mets made it 0 for 2 in the season's second half with an 11-0 loss to the Braves. Atlanta retiring Greg Maddux's number 31 motivated Jair Jurrjens, who pitched six scoreless innings for the win, but Mike Pelfrey definitely did not receive the memo and fell to 7-5 on the season.

The tall right hander struggled to compete from the start by allowing three runs in the first inning on a Brian McCann two run double and a Yunel Escobar RBI single. Things only got worse in the third inning when Martin Prado went deep and Brian McCann smacked a two run homer to give the Braves a 6-0 edge. Big Pelf's night finally came to an end in the 5th after he allowed RBI doubles to Garret Anderson and Yunel Escobar. The final line was not pretty for the Wichita State alum: 4.1 innings, 9 ER, 9 H, 2 HR. This was the third time in nine starts Pelfrey failed to pitch past the 5th inning, and he has only gone six or more innings three times in that span.

The Mets offense was just as lifeless as their pitching. New York only managed two hits in being shut out for the 6th time in their last 22 games. David Wright and Gary Sheffield were the only Metropolitans with hits. Over the last 18 games the Mets are averaging 2.7 runs a contest and batting .220 as a team as they are 5-13 in that span.

Gary Sheffield left the game with a pulled hamstring in the 5th inning when trying to field a ball in the outfield. Jerry Manuel said that Sheff will not start tomorrow but could be available for pinch hitting duty.

Mike Pelfrey was very frustrating tonight, and something has been wrong with him since the start of June. He just keeps having a few bad innings where he either gets hit hard or walks batters. The Mets need him to go much deeper into games, and he cannot keep having these starts where he blows up early and has to get an early hook. His inability to pitch deep into games also hurts the bullpen, and the Mets are relying on a lot more out of their second starter than a 7-5 record, a 5.07 ERA, and a 1.51 WHIP.

What's even more frustrating for the Mets than Pelfrey's recent performance is the list of injuries that keeps growing by the day. Fernando Martinez has surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee during the All-Star break and will most likely be out until mid-September. The 20 year old outfielder also had a hamstring injury last season that caused him to miss a lot of time for AAA New Orleans.

The Mets medical staff has done a poor job diagnosing all the injuries, and the front office has done an even more horrendous job managing them. Jose Reyes hurt his calf on May 13, traveled with the Mets out west to San Francisco and kept calling himself day to day. He played on May 20 at Los Angeles despite not being 100% healthy and made the injury even worse. Then he kept calling himself day to day, and the Mets eventually put him on the disabled list.

Carlos Delgado was having hip issues in early May, but played through the injury and even had three multi-hit games in a four game span before shutting it down. He played his last game on May 10, and the Mets flew him out west to San Francisco only to place him on the DL three days later with the hip injury that later required surgery. In both the Reyes and Delgado situations, the Mets failed to diagnose both players the right way, and then they took up roster spots that could have gone to healthy bodies.

The Carlos Beltran situation was also very mind boggling. He had a nagging knee issue that was not taken care of right away. Before he stopped playing on June 21, he hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games. The Mets hesitated in getting him a MRI in spite of the fact he was having pain in his right knee cap for quite some time. The organization handled the injury a little better since they did not wait to place him on the DL since they did right away.

The bottom line is the medical staff is doing a poor job recognizing players' injuries, and it is not only hurting them but it is also hurting the Mets ability to have enough healthy players to compete. The Mets injury list is getting bigger, and so is their deficit behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, which is now 8.5 games after the Phillies won 6-5 in 12 innings tonight in Florida.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore), (Jose Reyes Photo Courtesy of myself, David Suntup)