SNY.tv: Online Home of All Things Sports

On my long 7-train ride to Shea on Wednesday afternoon, though, I knew exactly what I wanted to write later in the evening. I wanted to write a column about how Mike Pelfrey -- a guy I've long been saying would be best served in a relief role and a prospect so many Mets fans have given up on -- made a believer out of me by pitching a good game in a big spot. I can't say I knew it was going to happen, and the rational part of my brain didn't think it would. It did, though. So this is the column I wanted to write.

The 24-year-old right hander wasn't spectacular in the Mets' 8-2 victory. He tossed five innings, allowing two runs, five hits and two walks while striking out three. I would've preferred an outing that lasted a little longer, and hey, a perfect game would have made for one heck of a column. But imperfect though he may have been, Pelfrey pitched well enough to end the Mets' assorted overblown losing streaks.

"I need to go deeper into games and be more efficient," said Pelfrey afterwards. "But I'm definitely happy."

I'm sure many fans and writers will agree that Pelfrey's outing on Tuesday was "exactly what the Mets needed." You'll read that somewhere, I promise. You won't read it here, because I don't know what the Mets need. Maybe they need lots of things; maybe they need nothing. It's too early in the season to tell. I'll say this, though: A win can't hurt.

Both Pelfrey and his manager agree.

"It's early in the year and there are lots of games left, but we're going to take every win we can get," said the 6-foot-7 hurler.

"It's good to get one win under his belt," added Willie Randolph. "I'm looking forward to his next start."

Early in Tuesday's affair, the Shea Faithful seemed ready to turn on the Mets at any point. It's a bizarre phenomenon, but sometimes when a team is losing so frequently and in such amazing fashion, its fans delight in every hiccup. And that bitterness is often either echoed or perpetrated -- depending on who you ask -- by journalists.

At times on Tuesday night, even this optimist was ready to jump on that bandwagon. When Pelfrey got into trouble in the top of the second inning thanks to a couple of seeing-eye singles and an error by Jose Reyes, it felt like the floodgates would open.

They didn't. After an RBI single by Carlos Ruiz -- one of the few hard-hit balls off Pelfrey all night -- Big Pelf forced pitcher Kyle Kendrick and leadoff hitter Shane Victorino to ground out.

In the top of the fourth, after beating Geoff Jenkins in an 11-pitch battle, Pelfrey walked Pedro Feliz -- no small feat -- with the count full. Ruiz then worked a full count of his own, and I again began to doubt Pelfrey. But again he proved me wrong; Ruiz grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Throughout the evening, Pelfrey resembled the pitcher the Mets have always hoped he would become -- striking batters out, forcing groundball after groundball, and successfully employing his entire three-pitch arsenal.

More importantly though, whether it was a stroke of luck or skill, Pelfrey stopped the bleeding. He silenced the boo birds before they began, and he quelled doubts about the back end of the Mets' hobbled rotation. I'll resist the urge to say Pelfrey proved his merit or cemented his spot on the roster or anything like that. It's one start in April. But with one start in April, Pelfrey reminded Mets fans that his miserable Spring Training was only Spring Training, and that a top prospect still dwells somewhere within the former top prospect.

"It's just one start," said Randolph. "The name of the game is to be consistent. We know what he's capable of doing."

Which brings me back to my original point. The column I wanted to write on my way into Shea Stadium would remind fans that the man perceived as perhaps the world's only washed-up 24-year-old is still only 24 years old. Maybe Pelfrey will get lit up in his next start and never win another game. But maybe he'll toss several more games like the one he won on Wednesday, and he'll give the Mets -- ahem -- exactly what they need in the back of their rotation. I don't know.

What I do know is that with the Mets in a bit of a funk and with even the team's most patient fans ready to toss in the towel just six games into the season, Pelfrey pitched well enough to win a game. Some people will find all sorts of meaning in it. I'll take it to mean only that Pelfrey can pitch well enough to win, and well enough to earn a few more starts. What follows, and what I write about the Mets' young pitcher in the future, is up to Pelfrey.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he said after the game. "And get prepared for my next start."