Those Mets

BIG PELF FALLS APART, COMEBACK FALLS SHORT

From MetsBlog: Mike Pelfrey started for the Mets, and for the second consecutive start, failed to get out of the fifth inning after allowing six runs in that frame, after a bizarre call reversal by the umpires, where, after the Reds loaded the bases with nobody out, Pelfrey buzzed Scott Rolen in on the hands, and after home plate umpire Jerry Meals originally did not call it a hit-by-pitch, the crew conferred and ultimately called it a hit-by-pitch, allowing a run to score. Later in the inning, with Drew Stubbs at the plate, Pelfrey clearly threw a strike on the outside part of the plate, but Meals called the pitch a ball, and with Pelfrey visibly angry, he lost his cool and allowed a pair of two run hits to Stubbs and Corky Miller, and then a run scoring triple to the opposing pitcher Travis Wood which made the score 7-1 Reds. However, the Mets came roaring back in the bottom of the inning with five runs thanks to a home run by Angel Pagan to leadoff the frame, and Alex Cora capped the inning with a two out, two run double to get the Mets within one run. Fernando Nieve came on in the sixth and allowed Joey Votto‘s second home run of the game which made it 8-6, and the Reds bullpen retired 14 of the final 15 batters they faced after the fifth inning, shutting the door on the Mets. In the ninth, Votto nearly hit his third home run of the night off Pedro Feliciano, driving one barely foul down the right field line. but settled for an opposite field double on the next pitch. For the seventh consecutive start, Pelfrey allowed a run in the first inning, and since June 1, he is 3-2 with a 4.56 ERA, raising his ERA to 3.39 for the season."another day, another bad game for the umpires in major league baseball…i don’t think ive ever seen a crew converse on a questionable hit by pitch, but as Keith Hernandez said during tonight’s broadcast, the umpires are conversing over more calls, and more no-brainer calls at that, than they ever have…the call on Rolen has to be the home plate umpire’s call, whether he’s right or wrong, as there is simply nobody else who can see and/or hear that ball hit the batter…i don’t really know how the first base umpire can remotely determine whether or not that ball hit Rolen, but apparently, that was enough…i’d hate to see the inning, or the game, come down to a blown call, but it did, and that is frustrating…of course, Pelfrey let that call, and the blown strike call to Stubbs clearly get to his head, and his lost his focus and his cool and melted down, and that is not what i’ve come to expect from Pelf this season"- MetsBlog