Mets Blank the Rockies for 4th Consecutive Win

The Mets silenced Colorado's bats for a 4-0 win to increase their winning streak to four games. Mike Pelfrey (8-6) was dominant on the mound tonight, mixing in a 96 mph fastball with great curveballs and sliders, to earn his 8th win of the year with 6.1 innings of shutout ball and five strikeouts. He improved to 3-1 in his career against the Rockies, and he's only allowed six earned runs in 23 innings against them.

Pelfrey's performance was enormous for the Mets tonight because they need someone to step up behind Johan Santana and become consistently reliable on the mound every fifth day. With two very good outings in a row, Big Pelf seems like he could find a groove the second half of the year if he can throw mid to high 90's and mix in his secondary pitches. In previous outings he has had trouble preventing that one bad inning. Tonight he found himself on the ropes in the fourth and the sixth, but got Clint Barmes out in both instances to escape from those situations.

Besides a stellar performance on the mound, the Metropolitans also had a strong offensive attack for the fifth straight game. New York put runs up in three consecutive innings, starting in the second with a Jeff Francoeur RBI single. Luis Castillo continued his hot hitting with an RBI single in the third, and a Brian Schneider sac fly in the fourth put the Mets up 3-0.


The Mets got an insurance run in the 8th, amid some controversy when Daniel Murphy singled to center. Colorado CF Dexter Fowler made an outstanding throw to home on one bounce, and catcher Chris Iannetta clearly tagged out Castillo before he touched home, but home plate umpire Larry Vanover called him safe. Rockies manager Jim Tracy came out to argue right away and was ejected from the game. While the Mets caught a huge break and the extra tally helped them out, since Francisco Rodriguez did not have to close the deal in the ninth, the call was definitely wrong. I have not seen umpires blow so many calls in all my years of watching baseball. I know everyone makes their mistakes, but these guys are out of position way too many times when making these calls. Vanover was standing behind the catcher on the first base side when he should have been more behind the plate.

Tidbits:

• The Mets improved to 48-51 on the season, and they are now 5.5 games behind the Rockies in the wild card hunt.
• New York improved to 20-2 since 2003 against the Rockies in Flushing and have swept them every year at home in that span except for 2005 and 2007.
• This is the first time in a while Pelfrey's velocity was over 95 mph, and he also had a really nice late drop on his curveball.
• Jeremy Reed was picked off the bases between 3rd and home when trying to execute a double steal after Angel Pagan took 2nd base with two outs in the 7th. Mets play-by-play broadcaster Gary Cohen rightfully criticized Reed for making a terrible base running decision.
• Jeff Francoeur was hit on the right hand in the 6th inning by Jason Marquis but stayed in the game. He had a huge bruise on his left hand, but luckily the ball did not hit his wrist.
• David Wright hit a ball to dead center field that hit off the wall right in front of the apple for a double. If he hit it three feet more in either direction, it would have been a homer. This is the second time in three games Wright was robbed of a home run by hitting the ball to center field, which also happened in Houston on Sunday because of the hill in center.
• The Mets go for five in a row tomorrow at 7:10 PM when Johan Santana opposes Jason Hammel. Santana did not pitch against the Rockies last season.

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)