Schwei By The Numbers: Mike Pelfrey's Dubious Distinction

By John Schweibacher
» More Columns

Mike Pelfrey's struggles have been well-documented. Pressed into the role of the Mets' number one starter, Pelfrey is 0 and 1 with a 15.63 earned run average after his first two starts of the season. Despite his solid 3.66 ERA in 2010, Pelfrey holds a dubious distinction among pitchers in club history -- the highest career earned run average for any Mets pitcher who has thrown at least 600 innings.

Highest Mets ERA's (Minimum 600 Innings)

By contrast, Johan Santana, who reached exactly 600 innings pitched for the Mets before being shut down with a shoulder injury last September, ranks 2nd among the 26 pitchers in club history who have thrown that many innings:

Lowest Mets ERA's (Minimum 600 Innings)

The Mets' first homestand of the season concludes this week with a four-game set against the Colorado Rockies before they head to Atlanta for a weekend series with the Braves.

The Mets took two of three against the Rockies last August in Colorado's lone visit to Citi Field. The Mets are 51 and 22 all-time vs. the Rockies in New York, dating back to Colorado's expansion season in 1993.

The Mets have gone 27 and 44 against the Rockies in Denver at Mile High Stadium and Coors Field.

When the Mets face Atlanta this weekend, it will mark the first time since 1990 that they will be going against a Braves team not managed by Bobby Cox. Cox, who also led the Braves from 1978 through 1981, has managed the Braves in roughly half (24-plus seasons) of the 49 years the Mets have faced the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.

•Mets vs. Bobby Cox (1978-81 & 1990-2010) 156-199 (.439)

•Mets vs. Birdie Tebbets (1962) 6-12 (.333)

•Mets vs. Bobby Bragan (1963-65) 19-47 (.288)

•Mets vs. Billy Hitchcock (1966-67) 10-14 (.417)

•Mets vs. Lum Harris (1968-72) 28-33 (.459)

•Mets vs. Eddie Mathews (1972-74) 9-14 (.391)

•Mets vs. Clyde King (1974-75) 12-7 (.632)

•Mets vs. Dave Bristol (1976-77) 13-11 (.542)

•Mets vs. Joe Torre (1982-84) 15-21 (.417)

•Mets vs. Eddie Haas (1985) 10-2 (.833)

•Mets vs. Chuck Tanner (1986-88) 16-12 (.571)

•Mets vs. Russ Nixon (1988-90) 17-7 (.708)

•Mets vs. Braves Managers other than Cox 155-180 (.463)

The last series the Mets played against the Braves before he took over in June of 1990, came on April 30th and May 1st of that season when Russ Nixon was the Atlanta manager.

The first game of that two-game set at Fulton-County Stadium was a 7-4 Braves win best remembered for David Cone allowing two runs to score while arguing a call at first base with umpire Charlie Williams.

Atlanta completed the two-game sweep with a 5-2 victory thanks to a two home runs from Braves starting pitcher Derek Lilliquist who went deep twice against Mets starter Ron Darling.

Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:

Runs: Ike Davis. Mets RBI leader has knocked in at least one run in eight of nine games.

Hits: Jose Reyes. Has hit in eight straight games since going 0-for-4 opening night in Florida, batting .368 (14-for-38).

Errors: Strikeouts. Mets hitters fan 17 times in 11-inning loss to Nationals and 27 times total in final two games of series.

What's wrong with "Big Pelf"? Add your baseball diagnosis to the fray below...

In:
• Atlanta Braves
• New York Mets