Is this guy going to be yet another Mets' bust? (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANTHONY LAFAMAN
STACHE WRITER

One of our biggest disappointments of this terrible campaign closes out his season today. Michael Alan Pelfrey (10-12, 5.08ERA) toes the rubber later tonight in which will be is final start of the year. A year ago Mike left us all with a good feeling after a couple of good September starts. Everyone had him penciled in as the #2 on the staff. The guy who will pair with our ace and go back to back double dragon style.

Unfortunately, that dream failed to come to life. Mike has been awful this year. 10 wins is not what you expect need from our #2 starter. Tonight it would be nice to see Pelfrey pitch well. If for no other reason than for himself. I know he’s not a mentally stable character. Most pitchers aren’t.
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Mike Pelfrey wants to show the critics that he is not the bust that some people are pegging him to be. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANDREW CAVAGNARO
STACHE WRITER

Mike Pelfrey rose to the occasion today and showed us that if he harnesses his potential, he will be one spectacular starting pitcher. Eight solid innings, allowing only one run and totaling only 105 pitches is the type of start Mets’ fans have longed for from Big Pelf.

Yesterday I wrote about his inconsistent efforts and even compared him to Dave Mlicki. If today wasn’t a fantastic Exhibit A into the possibilities of Mike Pelfrey, then I don’t know what is. Will he have poor starts again? I’m sure of it. But even Johan Santana has poor outings from time to time. However, after several awful outings Big Pelf could have continued his 2009 self-destruction.
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The Mets are trying to get Big Pelf back on track. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANDREW CAVAGNARO
STACHE WRITER

Tomorrow will be a huge test for the Mets number one hand licker(Mike Pelfrey). With a 9-10 record, along with a putrid 5.03 ERA, this season has been nothing short of a mega disappointment for Big Pelf.

At the onset of this once bright season, Big Pelf was looked at as a legitimate number two starter behind Johan Santana. Today he looks like a pitcher who would be the fifth starter on the Kansas City Royals. Aside from his shoddy statistics, the mental lapses have been alarming. His balks and the many innings where he implodes have been plentiful this season.
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2009 has been a step back for the young Mike Pelfrey. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANTHONY LAFAMAN
STACHE WRITER

One of the question marks heading into this season for the Mets was the rotation. The biggest question mark I felt was Mike Pelfrey. We saw his great run in September and immediately thought he’d plug into the second rotation. We also looked at his draft position and most of us thought this year would be his impact year.

I have to say with a bit of pessimism that I am disappointed thus far. I don’t think Mike Pelfrey is a number two starter in the big leagues. Maybe a number four which leaves the Mets with three number four starters. Because Oliver Perez and John Maine are nowhere nears being top of the rotation guys. Let’s delve a bit further into Mike’s numbers.
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I cringe at the thought of Daniel Murphy in the outfield once again. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANTHONY LAFAMAN
STACHE WRITER

Has this been the worse NY Mets season? Let’s review the TOP 25 Moments.

1. Our owner lost 750MM in a Ponzi Scheme.
2. Daniel Murphy in Left Field.
3. Mets lose the first game in Citifield. (On a balk, no less)
4. Oliver Perez to the DL with a strained “I SUCK” injury.
5. Mike Pelfrey falls off the mound a couple of times and balks three times in one game. (Damn balks)
6. Delgado legged out a triple then never played a game again because it lead to a labrum tear in his hip.
7. Ryan Church misses third, Dodgers win in extra innings, after some dropped fly balls.
8. Jose Reyes strains his vagina then later tears it “re-habbing” in a minor league game.
9. JJ Putz keeps getting lit up yet continues to pitch ultimately leading to elbow surgery.
10. Everyone wearing a Met jersey can’t homer in CitiField. Ironically everyone wearing a Phillies jersey CAN homer and promptly do so.
11. John Maine’s boobies hurt. He is put on the DL.
12. Mets backup catcher Ramon Castro traded for sticks and light bulbs then catches a no hitter in Chicago.
13. Luis Castillo drops a routine pop-up that would have ended the game, off the bat of super clutch A-Rod, the game tying and WINNING run score and the Mets lose.
14. Beltran’s bone bruise finally gets the best of him, never heard from again.
15. Mets fire Bernazard for his bare chested fight challenge to the “B” Mets team. Then Omar blames a Daily News beat writer for doing his job but hints that the beat writer’s motivation in writing such a story was for his own benefit. The beat writer took offense and they had a pillow fight resulting in nothing.
16. Fernando Martinez, the Mets only “known” commodity tears his meniscus and misses the rest of the year.
17. Trade deadline comes and goes with the Mets making no major moves. “The reinforcements will arrive shortly”, Met fans are told.
18. Castillo falls down the dugout stairs and injures his ankle.
19. Alex Cora, the then starting SS, tears a ligament in this thumb.
20. Pujols, Reynolds treat CitiField like the 1994 version of Coors field.
21. No one covered first base on a slow grounder. No seriously.
22. David Wright took some 94mph cheese off his noggin.
23. Jeff Franceour, a man who was never injured during his years in Atlanta, tears a ligament in his thumb that will require surgery.
24. Mets lose to the Phillies on a unassisted triple play. Eric Bruntlett laughs his ass off.
25. Johan Santana experiences elbow discomfort and may need season ending surgery to correct it.

I’d certainly say so.

Concerns about John Maine and a potential dead arm might create a hole in the Mets' rotation next season. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANDREW CAVAGNARO
STACHE WRITER

As this long and bizarre season winds down, I can’t help but look towards the future. Will next season be worse? No way. However as I look at the present roster and the holes that must be filled, I ask the question, “Will it be much better?”

Whoever sits general manger’s seat come the off season must figure out a way to plug holes in left field, first base, catcher, and several spots in the rotation. That’s a tremendous amount of needs that the Mets must correct.
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These Two Guys were part of a big day at Citi Field on Sunday Afternoon

BY ZACHARY SCHULMAN
STACHE WRITER

Today’s Mets game featured a lot of rare occurrences. Luis Castillo hit a home run, his first of the year. It was the longest home run I have seen a Met hit this year at Citi Field since Delgado took Jake Peavy deep over the bridge in right center back in 1981.

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For How Bad This Season Has Been, We Could See A Bigger Reward Later On

BY ZACHARY SCHULMAN
STACHE WRITER

As I sit there night after night and watch every last bit of hope trickle down the drain, I tell myself “one day I will be rewarded for this.” I am loyal to a fault towards the Mets. Though I know they are out of contention, I still feel the need to watch every game in hopes of seeing a very elusive victory or growth by one of their younger players. No matter the situation a good captain always goes down with the ship.

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Building a Team after this Moment has been very hard for the Mets (Courtesy of Boston.com)

BY JOSEPH STONE
STACHE WRITER

I have heard it said the the Mets mission statement over the last two years was to win Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. That they wanted to eradicate the memory of the loss and somehow change the course of history. I don’t think that’s quite true. I think that was something we the interactive fans and the professional writers inferred upon the team, that that particular game was somehow still winnable.

The Mets, in a wise move, just stuck with the core of a team over the next three years that was thisclose to the World Series in 2006, and are just now feeling the fallout from a long barren run at post-season success. After the outcome of the 2006 season, obviously the Mets, as an organization, felt that essentially standing pat with a team that was so close to the promised land was the right choice, hence the Alou signing as a stopgap to shore up RBI production and keep the train rolling.

Management felt that the veteran presence would assist, and not even a beat would be missed on the march back to October. They were absolutely correct. The 2007 season was going along according to script until…no need for specifics in rehashing at this point, we are all well versed. The team that had steamrolled along all year hit the wall and blew up. It happens. Only once in a blue moon, but strange things can happen in baseball. Ask the Cubs, or the Phillies.

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We have seen this look to many times this season (Courtesy of the NY Post)

BY MATTHEW FALKENBURY
ASSISTANT EDITOR

It was a display that none of us had thought was possible that spring. Mike Pelfrey mowing down Astro after Astro on a muggy August Night at Shea Stadium. He was going for back to back complete games for the first time in his career and the first time for a Met since Brett Saberhagen.

As I sat in the Picnic Area with the folks and watched Pelfrey finish off the game and give me a win in the final game I ever saw at Shea Stadium, I thought to myself that through the struggles he had early in his career, this guy was for real and was ready to be the man behind Johan Santana in the rotation for years to come.

Well, it seems that I was wrong, that we were all wrong, we didn’t see that maturity of a pitcher the 2nd half of 2008. We saw a flash in the pan, a pitcher that got hot and cant seem to put it all together. What it looks like to me, is that we are seeing a Right Handed version of Oliver Perez, and the question Mets fans will be asking now for a second of five days in the weeks and months and maybe years ahead is….

When is Pelfrey gonna put it all together?

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