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Game 39 Open Thread: Nationals at Mets

The Mets have lost two of three to Washington this week, and will try to salvage a split of the 4-game set Thursday afternoon for a matinee at Shea. New York remains just 2 games behind 1st place Florida, but is now just 20-18 on the year after Wednesday night’s tough loss.

Pitching Matchup: Mike Pelfrey (2-3, 4.86 ERA) vs. Jason Bergmann (0-1, 11.68 ERA)

Mike Pelfrey had arguably his best outing of the year in his last start. He went 6 innings and gave up just 2 runs Saturday night against the Reds. Unfortunately for him his opponent Bronson Arroyo was even better, and Pelfrey ended up taking the loss. He needs to be just as good today, as the Mets definitely do not want to lose 3 of 4 to the last place Nationals at home.

Pelfrey’s counterpart is Jason Bergmann, who as you can tell from his earned run average has not had a great start to the year. Bergmann made three terrible starts in April before getting sent down to the minors. He now gets another chance to earn a spot in the rotation, replacing the innefective Mike O’Connor. A lot is riding on this start for Bergmann, so don’t expect this to be a cake-walk for the Mets lineup.

Rizzi’s Rant:

The way the Mets have been playing I am very happy to see a guy on the mound with a double digit ERA. We need to score a bunch of runs today, that’s all there is to it. We have a very good lineup on paper, but so far it’s only been on paper and that needs to change.

Pelfrey is a real wild card today. Which “Big Pelf” is going to show up today? The one who has made 3 very effective starts, or the one who has thrown 3 stinkers? Hopefully it’s the former. I am not sure of the lineup, but I am hoping Brian Schneider is behind the plate day game after a night game. Pelfrey is 2-0 pitching to Schneider, and hasn’t gotten to work with him in a few weeks.

There is no such thing as a “must win” in May, but this is a “really really really need a win.” My goal for the Mets today (besides winning) is to have a game at Shea that has no booing from fans. Let’s see if we can reach that goal… LET’S GO METS!!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 7:42 am and is filed under Rizzi's Rant, Jason Bergmann, Brian Schneider, Game Thread, Mike Pelfrey, Bronson Arroyo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.