Nice to see a little offensive pulse late in Friday night's game, but to paraphrase Jackie Robinson [1], a hit is not important except in the impact is has on other hits.
Met batters made no impact [2] on Tim Hudson. He made the best lineup in the National League ineffectual and anything Mike Pelfrey did or didn't do moot. So for one night, it was meet the Moots, meet the Moots, step right up and…thanks for coming, arrive home safely.
Does the first inarguably noncompetitive loss of the season — though if Kelly Johnson doesn't make like Ordoñez and rob Reyes from one knee with the bases loaded in the fifth, it's 4-2 — bode anything serious? The Braves are in first by a half-game, they showed off some of that excellent pitching that used to be their regular-season trademark and Chipper Jones reminded us why he is a fungus.
It wasn't pleasant but it can be wiped away pretty quickly.
Oliver Perez, whose last turn in the rotation followed Jim McAndrew's, will have weather and stamina going for him, presumably. I'd mention how well he seems to do against the Braves but then I'd be forced to note how poorly he's done against just about everybody else. Let's go with he's due.
Pelfrey, I think, just needs to get comfortable. If he has to do it in New Orleans at some point, that's fine, too. He has too much talent, too much stuff and, I'm convinced, too much poise to not come along fairly quickly. Whereas Perez may never be consistent to our liking, if Pelfrey gets one excellent start under his belt, others will follow.
Also, if anything can be done to delete the smirk from Jeff Francoeur's face, let's make that happen.