Volquez is quickly becoming one of the premier pitchers in the National League.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

The Mets will square off in game two of their three game series with this Cincinnati Reds tonight, and we have one heck of a pitcher’s duel on the hill tonight. For the Reds, their young stud Edinson Volquez will take the hill, coming off of a breakout 17-win season for one of the National League’s worst teams. Now, Volquez is looking to take the Reds over the hump, and he will be opposed by Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey had a rather uncomfortable start to end the preseason, but the beauty is that the preseason does not count, so now he can start fresh. Pelfrey had a breakout season of his own last season, winning 13 games and proving to be a viable number two starter for the future.

The Mets have only faced Volquez once before, and they handled him pretty well. In the only start that Volquez had against the boys in orange and blue, they scored four runs on eight hits in just five innings. Volquez was left with a no decision on that day. We all know how good his stuff can be, and the Reds are certainly happy with the guy who was the key piece in the Josh Hamilton trade.

Pelfrey has faced the Reds four times in his career, three games in which he started. He is 1-1 versus Cincinnati and has allowed 10 runs in just 20.1 innings pitched against them. The six walks and three homers against are numbers in which Pelfrey needs to improve upon when he is facing Cincinnati, and tonight will be no easy task.

Both of these guys are capable of putting up zeroes all the way through, but I think I will have to give the edge to Volquez due to Pelfrey’s lack of consistency in the spring. Hopefully, I will be wrong and the Mets will be able to outslug the woeful Reds.

Gametime is 7:10. See you after the game.