Mike Pelfry

Some thoughts ahead of tomorrow's report of his two shutout innings today (which I expect to be borderline gushing.)

I watched his first inning of work and listened to his second on the radio.

In his first inning, he consistently pitched in the 93-95 range, down, and away. He threw an off-speed pitch in the high 70s. A separate pitch that was fouled off was in the high 60s.

The first batter faced was Alex Cora who showed why he is a fringe pro. He swung at an outside 2-0 pitch for a groundout.

Pelfrey looked good on Pudge Rodriguez after he had laced Pelfrey's first pitch foul deep down the right field line. He struck him out on a 93 MPH fastball.

In his second inning, it sounded as if he got hit harder but was lucky for two good defensive plays, one by Kaz Matsui and the other by Xavier Nady.

Overall, I was impressed. His first professional pitches came against the Puerto Rico All-Star team. - Bernie Williams, Pudge Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Javy Lopez, Jose Cruz Jr., Alexis Rios. Not an easy way to break-in.