Mets 2, Padres 1: Ike's Ball Dessens Into The Night

Tonight's game was a showcase of homegrown talent. It featured:

• Mike Pelfrey allowing just five hits and one run in nine innings.
• Jose Reyes going 2-4 with a home run and a walk.
• David Wright cracking two hits and not striking out for the fourth game in a row.
• Ike Davis hitting a game-winning home run in the 11th inning off the talented but homer-happy Edward Mujica.

The only thing that might be more fun than tonight's ending is playing paintball with the cast of "The Wire". Ike's bomb was the highlight but Pelfrey was the star. The big man had his best pitching performance since, well, last week, striking out six and walking none in his nine innings of work. Whereas last Wednesday Pelf was a little up in the strike zone, this week he was straight-up pounding the lower half. He threw an impressive 78 of 103 pitches for strikes (76%), including 24 of 33 first pitches (73%). That the Mets didn't score enough runs in time for him to collect a win is erroneous. I am very happy to see Pelfrey pitching so well.

The Mets bullpen stopped the LOL for a night, striking out three in two innings of work. Francisco Rodriguez threw a terrific 13-pitch, two strikeout 10th.  Elmer "High Leverage" Dessens made the most memorable cameo since President Obama in the "Whoomp, There It Is" music video, striking out the ferocious Scott Hairston with David Eckstein on second base to end the top of the 11th. Ike then led off the bottom half of the frame with a 444-foot screamer over the right-center field wall, handing Dessens the six-pitch win. Basically:

(Note the puppy's resemblance to Ike, particularly the eyes)

This game wasn't all homers and high leverage strikeouts though. The Mets went 0-8 with runners in scoring position. Jason Bay was 0-5 with three strikeouts and the $66 million investment in Canada is not paying off. Rod Barajas had four poor at-bats, striking out twice and hitting weak flyballs in his other two attempts. Henry Blanco has been banged up but has started only three games in the last 20 days. With Barajas on pace to play the most games of his career, Hank White should see more playing time. Also, Alex Cora made his 33rd appearance of the season, playing two innings in the field and popping out weakly (on the first pitch!) in one plate appearance. Just a professional at-bat right there by Cora. Only 47 more appearances until the 2011 option vests. .209/.296/.267.

Tomorrow's game features a nice pitching matchup: Johan Santana vs. Mat Latos. The tall Padres righty throws a low-to-mid 90's fastball, complemented by an impressive slider. First pitch is at 7:10 and tickets are still available.

Unintentionally sexual SNY quote of the day: "As Ike Davis gets the cream pie to the face for the second time." -- Chris Carlin, on Angel Pagan's post-game assault of Ike

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Gaslamp Ball Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Mike Pelfrey +47.8% (as pitcher), Jose Reyes +24.7%
Big losers: Jason Bay -31.8%, Rod Barajas -17.0%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ike Davis home run +36.7%
Teh sux0rest play: Jason Bay groundout -12.5%
Total pitcher WPA: +74.5%
Total batter WPA: -24.5%
GWRBI!: Ike Davis

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by astromets; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.