New York @ Los Angeles preview
Dodger Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 23, 2010 ) NY Mets 6, LA Dodgers 1
It wasn’t all that long ago that Mike Pelfrey was having an All-Star caliber season. But things have gone south in a hurry for the New York Mets right-hander.
Pelfrey is now getting pounded regularly and will strive to get back on the beam Saturday afternoon when the Mets play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third contest of a four-game series.
Pelfrey won his 10th game on June 25 but hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning in any of his four starts since that victory over the Minnesota Twins. His last start was the worst of the bunch when the Arizona Diamondbacks recorded six runs and seven hits off him in just 1 1/3 innings.
The outing was the shortest of Pelfrey’s 99 career starts - and he needed 51 pitches to make it out of the first inning.
That made it three straight defeats for Pelfrey (10-5) during the rough four-game stretch in which he has allowed 21 runs in 14 2/3 innings for a horrific 12.88 ERA. Pelfrey’s season ERA has risen from 2.71 to 4.01.
Pelfrey’s struggles have been part of New York’s decline as Friday’s victory over the Dodgers was just the Mets’ second win in nine games.
New York used stellar pitching from Johan Santana, terrific defensive outfield play and a clutch three-run double by Jason Bay in notching the 6-1 victory that ended a four-game losing streak.
Santana has now allowed just three runs in 38 innings. He got help from the outfield as Bay made a sensational catch while crashing into the left-field wall, right fielder Angel Pagan made back-to-back sliding grabs in the fourth inning and Carlos Beltran made two fine plays in center field.
The Dodgers, of course, have been struggling just as bad as the Mets. Los Angeles is also 2-7 over the last nine games after Friday’s loss to drop six games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West.
Both victories in the skid were by 2-0 scores as the Los Angeles offense has struggled with left fielder Manny Ramirez on the disabled list for the third time this season.
Right fielder Andre Ethier, who carried the Dodgers early in the season, went 0-for-4 on Friday and has just one hit in his last 24 at-bats.
The Dodgers will start Carlos Monasterios on Saturday. Monasterios is back in the rotation as the fifth starter after Los Angeles gave James McDonald the start the last time the spot came up.
Monasterios (3-2, 3.61 ERA) will be making his seventh start of the season. His last two starts didn’t go well – he gave up a combined 10 runs in just 6 2/3 innings against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Boston Red Sox.
Mets rookie Ike Davis emerged from a four-game slump to homer off Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla on Friday. Davis had been just 1-for-17 over the previous four contests.