The Mets will attempt to complete the two game sweep of the Nationals tonight and guarantee a winning season. Tonight will be pitting Mike Pelfrey who has dominated the Nationals this year against Odalis Perez. The overall goal once again is to win, and keep that division lead to 2.5 or even extending it.
Pelfrey (13-9) has pitched 176.2 innings this year and has a nice ERA at 3.62. In his last five games though he has really been on fire with a 3-1 record over 38.2 innings pitched, 7 walks, 19 strikeouts and a dazzling ERA of 1.86. If you think that ERA is good, you should see his stats against the Nationals this year. He has faced the Nats twice with a record of 1-1 over 14.2 innings pitched. His ERA over that time is an Amazing 0.61. How does he have a loss with an ERA that low against the Nats? He lost a game 1-0 earlier this season (same one he took a no hitter into the sixth inning). Nationals over their careers have hit Pelfrey like this:
Zimmerman 4-17
Belliard 3-15, 2B
Flores 2-4, 2B
Milledge 1-5
The key for Pelfrey tonight is to remember all of his success the past couple of months. With that he should just handle this line up like he has all season long, with complete dominance.
Perez is having his best season since 2004. He is 6-10 this year, but his ERA is down to 4.19 over 139.2 innings. Over his last 5 games he has been a little worse than his average all season. He is 1-2 over 27.2 innings, 11 BB, 20 K and an ERA of 4.55. His stats against the Mets in three games this year look similar. He is 1-1 in 18.1 innings pitched and has an ERA of 4.42. The following numbers are the Mets offense stats against Perez in 2008 only:
Beltran 4-9, 2 2B
Reyes 7-10, 2B, 3B
Wright 3-7, 2B, 2 HR
Delgado 1-7
Those are amazing numbers for only one season of play. Like Pelfrey, the Mets bats must remember that they can hit Perez and hopefully tonight's offense for the Mets will carry over to tonight. Reyes' numbers are amazing, hitting .700 against a pitcher in a year is a really nice feat, and in a couple seasons of writing these previews, I don't recall too many batters doing that well against a pitcher. Lets Go Mets! Sweep the Nats!
