Pelfrey Is Not in Johnson's Level

Mets announcers Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez asked SportsNet New York's studio analyst Ron Darling to compare and contrast couple of 25-year-old starters in Josh Johnson and Mike Pelfrey, who faced each other in last night's game between the New York Mets and the Florida Marlins at Land Shark Stadium.

Darling pointed out there's no comparison between the starters by mentioning Johnson was superior to Pelfrey.

He offered his explanation by saying Johnson is polished, smart, and well-conditioned while Pelfrey has ways to go until he reaches that level.

The candor is refreshing, and that's what makes watching Mets games interesting.

Cohen, Hernandez and Darling will promote their team, but they are not afraid to be frank if the team stinks, and they are not going to favor a player on their own team over others if the other player is better than them as Mets viewers saw last night.

Johnson and Pelfrey proved Darling's point last night in the Marlins' 5-3 victory over the Mets.

Johnson knows what it takes to be a successful pitcher, and he demonstrated that in his first full season in 2006 before he had Tommy John surgery.

When he came back last year, he kept on winning by going 7-1 for the season, and this year, he is a Cy Young candidate with 12 victories and an 2.99 ERA prior to last night's game.

Pelfrey proved he is capable of being a good pitcher by achieving many victories after the All-Star break last year.

Expectations were high for Pelfrey this season when the Mets thought he could be what Ricky Nolasco is for the Marlins, which is being a co-ace.

It hasn't worked out for Pelfrey and the Mets.

Pelfrey has been marred with inconsistency all season, and now it looks like he is figuring out how to dole out quality starts and win, which is good enough for him to win nine games prior to last night's start.

Last night, Johnson wasn't his usual best, but he was good enough to improve his career record to 7-0 against the Mets.

The Mets mustered hits off him, and at times, Johnson's command wasn't sharp, but it didn't matter as Johnson used his guile to survive by throwing strikes.

Also, Johnson figured out how to minimize his pitches after the fourth inning.

Pelfrey could not say the same thing.

Pelfrey was in trouble all night from the start, and then he eventually gave in by giving up several hits that propelled the Marlins to tie the game in the third inning and then the lead in the sixth inning.

This has been the story of Pelfrey's career so far.

He can't be skittish by being in jams if he wants to be a successful pitcher. Even if he does not have his best stuff, the least he can do is use some smarts to get out of it.

Pelfrey walked five Marlins and gave up a two-run home run to Ronny Paulino that gave the Marlins a 4-2 lead.

The walks and the gopher balls also need to be cut down for him to improve.

Pelfrey throws too many pitches in one inning, and he did it couple of times when he was in a jam. This is another thing he needs to work on.

Darling talked about how Johnson has done a good job of being in good shape by taking his conditioning seriously after having the surgery.

Johnson demonstrates that by going deep in games and being stronger as the game goes on when he starts, and it showed last night. He was better in the third inning after a rough start, and from there, he gave the Marlins several good innings.

Pelfrey is the opposite of Johnson by which he is done after the fifth inning unlike Johnson.

A starter needs to give his team seven innings of work and save the bullpen in the process, but with Pelfrey, he needs to be relieved often in his starts.

The Mets hyped Pelfrey as an ace since the day he was drafted so a guy with that type of potential should be doing more than pitch for five innings. Last night, he pitched five and two-third innings.

He needs to figure out what he can do to go deep in games.

Pelfrey has time to be good. With young pitchers, it takes time until they get it.

The Mets hope it's soon rather than later.

If Pelfrey is smart, he would seek Johnson today and ask him what would it take to pitch at a level that his counterpart performed against him.