Willie Survives Another Day, Mets Outslug Angels

What do we say about Mike Pelfrey's outing last night against the Angels?


Steady as a sinking ship

Do we focus on the simple things like, well, he earned a rare victory, his first since what, like April 15th, kept the Mets in the game (sort of) and he bent but didn't break against the fearsome Angels offensive onslaught?

Or do we think well, he gave up 6 earned runs in a mere 6 innings of work, he almost blew the game open for fatigue in the 7th, or Pedro Feliciano did a good job of trying to blow the game open on his behalf before magically and mysteriously, Aaron Heilman came in and actually got the side out without further damage?


Is this Jose Reyes' excited face or does he look a wee bit possessed as though someone's gotten hold of a voodoo doll in his likeness?

On the one hand you might say Pelfrey pitched just good enough to win but that is discounting the unusual display, the rare run support he was afforded by his teammates led in large part by the resurgent Carlos Beltran, who had a pair of homers making it 3 in 2 games.

Most games that Pelfrey pitches, if he gives up 6, the Mets are near-certain to lose because frankly, their offense has been wretched. No run support for Pelfrey. It's almost as though his teammates WANT him to lose. Waiting for a Mets run in a Pelfrey outing has been like waiting for an 85 year old woman to give birth.


Beltran is not wielding the Sword of Damocles to chop off Willie's head, just celebrating a hot streak...

But last night was different. Hell, they were even out on the coast, having already fulfilled their whinge quota with the usual complaints about coast-to-coast 21,000 miles logged sort of fatigue. They were out there with their manager's head on the chopping block, they were out there against the AL West leaders, a team that was 14 games over .500, they were out there, one would have imagined, just to lose in a different time zone. But no. Apparently, they were out there to win.

Now you tell me if most nights Heilman, Duaner Sanchez and Billy Hillbilly go out and toss three scoreless innings, i.e. do the job their hired to do, that the Mets don't win.

Or tell me if Beltran hits a pair of homers and Castillo and Reyes both have a pair of hits from the top of the order that this isn't the formula for Mets victory.

So you see, it really isn't that hard. The ingredients are there yet Willie's cake keeps going pffffft in the oven.

Last night, a little different tune.

Are we going to get spastic about the Mets turning the corner?

No.

Willie survives another day.

If we're able to say that the rest of the season, this might not have such a bad ending after all.

Willie survives another day.

Go on, say it with me:

Willie survives another day.

At this point, it's the best we can realistically hope for.