Those Mets

PELFREY PUTS END TO MISERY

Several hours of drama unfolded Monday at Turner Field, complete with tension, anxiety, intrigue and stress. Then the game started. That, too, provided entertaining theater. With COO Jeff Wilpon and general manager Omar Minaya in attendance, Mike Pelfrey and the Mets gave manager Jerry Manuel a timely 3-2 victory over the Braves. "All we can take care of is what we do on the field," catcher Rod Barajas said. "We haven't been playing great baseball. We needed to go out there today and figure out a way to win. Whether it was a close game or a blowout, we needed to go out there and stop what was going on." Little credit could go to the manager on this day, however, because his starting pitcher took all the strategy out of the game. By the time Pelfrey departed with two outs in the eighth, the winning formula was clear: Pedro Feliciano for one out, Francisco Rodriguez for the save. Those aspects of the game proved most difficult, with Feliciano loading the bases in the eighth and Rodriguez putting the tying run in scoring position in the ninth. But both pitchers wriggled out of their respective jams, easing the pressure -- real or imagined -- off Manuel. In the midst of a four-game sweep in Miami last weekend, Wilpon and Minaya altered their travel schedules to include an impromptu visit to Turner Field. There, they met with Manuel for roughly 90 minutes Monday in the visiting manager's office, discussing what Wilpon and Manuel described only as "baseball." Their visit, however, contained all the subtlety of a ticking time bomb. Manuel's job is no longer safe, as Wilpon later intimated with his comments. And Minaya's may not be, either. "I wouldn't be here if I felt good about everything going on," Wilpon said. On Manuel's watch, the Mets had committed such atrocities as a 15-game streak in which no Mets starting pitcher had earned a win -- the team's longest such streak in 18 years. Pelfrey put an end to it Monday, keeping his pitch count low thanks in large part to three double plays. Like most Mets, he also did his best to separate himself from the pregame drama -- "it's out of my pay grade," Pelfrey cracked. But there was no denying an extra sense of anxiety, if not urgency, for the visiting team at Turner Field. "Maybe it's unsettling for some people," outfielder Jason Bay said. "It's definitely newsworthy. I understand that." Still, what could the Mets do? Their only roles in this drama involved gloves and bats. Starting in right field in place of the slumping Jeff Francoeur, Chris Carter used his lumber to the best of his ability, doubling and scoring on Barajas' two-run double off Derek Lowe in the second, then driving in what became the winning run with a groundout in the sixth. Carter, one of the newest Mets, has only known Manuel for months. But the manager must be glad for his presence. Thanks to Carter, Barajas and especially Pelfrey, the Mets snapped their losing streak at five. "Hopefully we can get back on the track and play good baseball for a period of time," Manuel said. Most of the Mets did so on Monday. Again, what else could they do? "If we're on a 10-game winning streak, I can't go out there and take the day off," Pelfrey said. "You always try to go out there and put up zeros and compete. Whether things are going back or things or going good, you've got to go out there and win. That's the bottom line." Barajas drew similar conclusions. "Regardless of who's here and what people are saying," the catcher said, "the bottom line is you've got to get your job done." On Monday night, they did. And they have their ace, Johan Santana, prepared to start the final game of this two-game series on Tuesday. Wilpon and Minaya will be in attendance for that one, too. But if the Mets keep winning, they'll be all but invisible. "Obviously things didn't go too well the last five or six games," Bay said. "I guess what's done is done." (MLB.com)