Mets-Rockies: Mike Pelfrey's Stellar Performance Leads New York to Sweep

By the eighth inning, Mike Pelfrey had the Shea faithful on their feet chanting, "Let's Go Pelfrey!"

Amongst the cheers, Pelfrey got Scott Podsednik to pop-out to David Wright in foul territory, ending his work for the night. When the cheers continued, Pelfrey emerged from the dugout and waved his cap to the crowd as the Mets finished off their ninth consecutive win.

Joe Smith pitched the ninth to complete the shutout, the fourth for the Mets in their last six games. It hasn't only been pitching that has brought the Mets this win streak though, the bats have been coming around lately as well.

The offense started early tonight, as Carlos Beltran blasted a pitch from Mike Redman over the left field bleachers to take a 3-0 lead. It must have felt like deja vu for the Mets, because in Pelfrey's last start on Tuesday, Beltran also hit a three-run home run in the first inning off of San Francisco Giants starter Tim Lincecum.

The Mets would tack on four more insurance runs. Two came off a monstrous home run hit off the scoreboard in right by Carlos Delgado. The homer tied Delgado with David Wright for the team lead with 17.

Pelfrey and the Mets defense took care of the rest, as seven runs would prove to be more than enough. The six-foot seven-inch right-hander was attacking hitters all night with his mid-90s sinking fastball. Pelfrey threw 119 pitches, and 81 of them went for strikes. He used the sinking fastball to get 15 groundball outs, including four double plays. Pelfrey also did not issue any walks for the second straight start en route to winning his sixth consecutive start to put him at 8-6 for the year.

The only real jam Pelfrey got into was in the fourth inning. There were men on first and third with one out and Rockies' slugger Garret Atkins at the plate. Atkins hit a sharp groundball toward third. David Wright grabbed it and made an off balance throw to second. The throw was in the dirt, and second baseman Damion Easley made an excellent play to get the out at second, and make a good throw to first while Brad Hawpe was sliding into him.

The Mets head into the All-Star break on a roll, and trail the first place Phillies by just a half game in the NL East.

 Player of the Game: Mike Pelfrey: W, 8 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 Ks