New York Mets Open Series Against Nationals

NEW YORK-- The Mets offense was as flat as a pancake against Nate Robertson and Burke Badenhop of the Florida Marlins on Thursday. It'll have to be a little better on Friday night when the Mets open up a three-game series against the Washington Nationals. The Mets, coming off of a season-opening series loss to Florida, will take on Garrett Mock, 26, who last season went 3-10 with a 5.62 ERA in 28 appearances, 15 as a starter. If the Mets offense wants to score more than just one run against him, they'll have to be more selective at the plate then they were against Robertson, who had some hitters including David Wright guessing before he threw a pitch. When the Mets were scoring tons of runs on Monday and Wednesday, they were being very patient. On Wednesday, the Mets came back down five due in large part to the fact they fought back from many 0-2 counts to draw walks. That may also have been due to a bad Marlins bullpen. Nonetheless, the Mets must be patient. On the Mets side, they'll be seeing Mike Pelfrey making his season debut and do they ever need him to step up big. After Johan Santana's solid outing in the opening game, John Maine was horrific and Jon Niese was average at best. They need a dominant outing from someone other than Santana. If anyone can do it, it's Pelfrey, the ninth overall pick in the 2005 draft. Last season Pelfrey had a major setback from his dominant 2008 second half. That season he ended up winning 13 games with an ERA under four. His setback saw him go 10-12 with a 5.03 ERA including a three-balk game against the San Francisco Giants in May. Whether it's mental or not, Pelfrey needs to calm down on the mound and cut out the theatrics (wiping sweat off forehead, throwing rosin bag down, yelling at self) and just pitch to his capabilities. One thing that has been overlooked in the first couple of games is the Mets bullpen. Other than Hisanori Takahashi's game-winning run given up in Wednesday's loss in the 10th inning, the Mets bullpen has been lights-out. They threw three shutout innings on Monday and three more today.

Pitching splits:

Mike Pelfrey vs. Washington (career)

3-5, 3.93 ERA, 75.2 IP, 79 hits, 30 BB, 35 SO

Garrett Mock vs. New York (career)

0-1, 3.75 ERA, 12 IP, 13 hits, 8 BB, 8 SO

2009 season series (New York vs. Washington)

New York won series 10-8