Mike Pelfrey went seven, but details, details…it was a complete game win [1] for the Mets Tuesday night. Honestly, it felt like the first one all season.
The Mets were a complete team for once. They played with complete effectiveness, completely overwhelming the opposition. There've been a few other lopsided scores in their favor this season, but those felt like outliers. This felt like what we were sold and told before the year started.
The 2008 Mets were the undeniably better team on the field last night. They had Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, and instead of that implying inning-killing at-bats, it meant power. Beltran delivered the keynote address with a three-run bomb in the first and Delgado all but sealed the deal in the sixth by launching one “deep into the New York night,” as goofy, unpredictable Wayne Hagin put it (aside: I really like goofy, unpredictable Wayne Hagin). The Carloses, 90 games in, are at last all asset and zero liability.
There were other goodies as well you didn't have to search too hard to find: another Tatis tater; Argenis Reyes' first base hit and first trip around the bases; the continued offensive blossoming of 38-year-old Damion Easley; Jose topping .300; the evisceration of SI cover boy Tim Lincecum; and, the real highlight in an evening of highlights, Mike Pelfrey winning his fifth consecutive decision. Pelfrey, intermittently grumbled at by certain impatient dopes [2] earlier this season, is the Mets' ace in everything but title at the moment. More nights like this one and his reputation will catch up fast.
Two games above .500 doesn't exactly set the heart atwitter, but tied for second and one back in the loss column sure as heck makes the pulse race. Four wins in a row ain't bad either. It's a long way off the “roll” Matt Yallof was touting the Mets as on afterwards, but the Mets are at least on a croissant — the hot and flaky kind.
Those can be delicious.