The Mets will play the second game of the series and the season tonight against the Reds. This time the Mets will put Pelfrey on the mound to go toe to toe with Volquez. One of the main stories for the Mets in this game will be hitting in RISP situations. In the last game, they 1-12 with RISP, and won thanks to a good bullpen that was able to lock down the Reds. It would be better for everyone’s heart rates on the team and the fans across the nation if the Mets remember how to score more runs today. And it could be very tough against today’s starting pitcher.

Volquez got off to an amazing start last year, and although he fizzled towards the end he still finished with a very nice 17-6 record and a 3.21 ERA. This Spring he picked up where he left off last year going 2-0 in five games, and 22.2 Innings pitched with a dazzling 1.19 ERA. In fact, one of the rare times you ever see this guy put up bad looking numbers is against the Mets. He faced the Amazin’s one time last year (and I remember being very worried about it then) and allowed 8 hits and 4 runs over 5 innings of work, 3 walks and 3 K’s. Here were some notable lines from that game:
Delgado 2-2, 2B, BB
Reyes 3-3, 3B
Beltran 1-3, RBI
Wright 0-1, BB, RBI
The key for the Mets today is once again to hit and hit often. As stated before, the overall objective is to get those hits with RISP. The Mets recorded a good amount of hits in their last game, but they couldn’d do anything with those hits. The Reds pen, except their closer, is also not the strongest in the league. If they can knock around Volquez the Mets should be able to pick up some late inning runs and also start to ware into this pen for tommorrows early afternoon game.

On the other side of the ball, the Mets will send up Pelfrey to build off of his last season where he went 13-11 with a 3.72 ERA after a slow start. Last year Peflrey saw the Reds twice picking up a loss over 13 innings pitched, 7 earned runs, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. His ERA over those two games was 4.85. The good thing for Pelf is that two Reds hitters that know how to hit Pelf are gone (Griffey and Dunn).  Here are some carear numbers the Reds have posted against Pelfrey:
Encarnacion 1-6, HR
Bruce 1-3
Votto 0-3
The key for Pelfrey today is to have confidence in his pitches. We saw over the course of last year as he got more confident, all of his stuff got better. If he can do that again today he should put some nice numbers on the scoreboard. Another item Pelf can now have confidence in is that pen behind him has already demonstarted this season that they can back up starters. This could be the beginning of a great friendship between the rotation and the pen. Finally, just for fun, watch Pelf during AB’s. Maine likes to rip on Pelfrey’s low, low batting average, and that Maine has a homerun in the bigs. Lets Go Mets! Beat the Reds!

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Two important myths were expelled last night. David Wright is not clutch. Team USA does not play with energy. Well with one swing of that bat that all changed. In a very tight game that was played very well, Team USA came up down two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Before the ninth inning they were down 4-3, but the PR tacked on a huge insurance run in the top of the ninth to make the lead 5-3, and the way things were going for Team USA, it seemed like a taunting task. With a couple of lead off hits, walks and so forth, team USA loaded the bases with one out. Youkillis was at bat and he drew the critical bases loaded walk. That means Team USA was down by one, with one out, with the bases loaded, and David Wright was at the plate. Yes David Wright, the player being called on WFAN 660 AM as the Mets unclutch player. He saw a few pitches and just deposited one down right field line. Roberts and Rollins scored and team USA won!

Team USA doesn’t show emotion. Wrong. The entire team got out on the field and basically mobbed Wright and the celebretaion continued. It was actually exciting to watch Team USA play and now they will go to the semi finals (after playing Venezuela again to determine seeding). Here are some of the box highlights that Mets fans would be interested in:
Beltran 0-3
Delgado 1-3, K, 2 RBI, BB, HR
Figueora 2.1 IP, 2K
Feliciano .2 IP, H, BB
Wright 3-4, R, 2RBI, BB, SB
Putz 1.0 IP, 2K
The Mes get a lot out of this game. As good as PR played, it is time for them to come back to Mets camp, and they all did really well and now we get to see them play for the Mets and bring those bats home. Something that is not shown in that box line is that Beltran has been smoking the ball in the WBC, just had an off night last night, and last night he robbed McCann of a homer, something he will hopefully be able to do more in the season against the Braves. What I am most excited about is Figueora pitching for the Mets again. After last night, I think he now has a legitimate shot now of making that fifth spot, and that would be great.

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Redding has been shut down, Garcia has been pretty terrible and Livan Hernandez has been tolerable. That is the state of the Mets fifth rotation spot. The struggles of these three has left the door open for Niese, and the door possibly open for bringing back Pedro but there is another pitcher who is starting to impress in my mind and that is Figueroa. Figueroa has pitched 8 innings this spring between the Mets and the WBC (official games). Over those eight innings he has been very, very good:

Mets: 2 G, 3.0 IP, H, K, BB
PR: 3 G, 5.0 IP, 2H, 4 K, 3 BB

Over these eight innings, he is yet to allow an earned run, and when he gets in trouble, he gets out of trouble without allowing anything to effect the score. He is pitching at least well enough to be allowed to compete for that last starter spot when PR’s ride is over with the WBC. There are also a few things that will work in his, and the Mets favor. The Mets do not need to declare their fifth starter at the beginning of the season because they can survive at first with a four man rotation thanks to off days. That means the Mets will have more time for deciding their fifth starter. Also, the fifth starting spot will probably change as the season goes on, so there is nothing wrong with starting with Figueroa and then switching over to a healthy Redding, or whoever on the Mets decides to wake up one day and take that last spot.

That being said, this is probably extremely unlikely. It seems right now that the Mets will either go with Hernandez in the pen as the long man and Niese as the fifth starter, or just Hernandez period as the fifth man, and neither option is a bad option. This entire situation will become more clear as we get closer to opening day.

As a quick note, my name is Elliot and from time to time I will be adding extra Mets analysis to this site and I will be doing game previews. I have been blogging for a little over two years at 213 Miles From Shea, a Mets site that is updated a few times a day and has over 800 articles, so check it out!