WASHINGTON — Mike Pelfrey isn’t exactly ready for the ironman triathlon, but all indications are he will make his scheduled start tomorrow against the Phillies.
As one of several Mets battling the flu, Pelfrey has shed 11 pounds in less than a week, causing concern from manager Terry Collins about the righty’s fitness to make his next start. Collins is prepared to give Dillon Gee the ball if Pelfrey doesn’t appear ready.
But after the Mets rallied to beat the Nationals 6-3 last night for their sixth consecutive victory, pitching coach Dan Warthen hinted that Pelfrey will be the choice tomorrow. The Mets will make an official announcement before tonight’s game.
Pelfrey, who got sick to his stomach during his Friday start against the Diamondbacks, said he has been limited to eating one daily meal since Sunday. But based on his 45-pitch bullpen session yesterday, he’s convinced the worst is behind him, and he can pitch tomorrow.
In his last start against the Phillies, three weeks ago, Pelfrey surrendered seven runs over two-plus innings as part of a 10-7 loss.
“I always like pitching against Philadelphia. They are obviously our rivals, so I want to pitch a lot better than last time in,” Pelfrey said. “I want to get back out there. The one thing I take probably more pride in than anything is being able to take the ball every time.”
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Daniel Murphy homered in the eighth inning and stroked a two-run double in the ninth, but said Chin-lung Hu had the biggest at-bat of the comeback victory.
It was Hu’s sacrifice fly in the ninth against Sean Burnett that made it 3-3 before Josh Thole‘s RBI ground out gave the Mets the lead. Hu’s last plate appearance had come seven days earlier.
“I know how hard it is to come off the bench, and [Hu] hasn’t been playing,” Murphy said. “It’s the at-bat of the day to come in against their closer and drive that ball to the corner and get the RBI, and set up Thole to get the next one and give us the lead.”
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Mike Nickeas was given the chore of catching R.A. Dickey — the first time this season anybody other than Thole caught the knuckleballer. Nickeas caught Dickey twice in spring training.
Nickeas had a passed ball last night, but otherwise survived. He also was 1-for-3 with an infield single and scored a run.
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Collins said he didn’t hesitate to sit Thole, Murphy and Jason Pridie against Nationals lefty Tom Gorzelanny.
Scott Hairston, who was 0-for-2 before being pinch-hit for by Willie Harris in the seventh inning, started in center field and Justin Turner at second base. Turner was 1-for-3 with an RBI single.
“I’m comfortable putting [Hairston] out there, that’s why he’s here, to face left-handers,” Collins said before the game. “When we brought Justin Turner up, one of the things we wanted to have him do was face left-handed pitching. I’m comfortable with the lineup. I’m not trying to change anything. That’s what we’ve been doing and we’re just going to stay with that.”