Good Morning Mike Pelfrey (Mets) Fans!

He did it again--24-year old Mike Pelfrey went out, in a game his club desperately needed, and pitched a complete game, 1 run, ballgame. He dominated, absolutely dominated, and put a spark back in a team that had lost their last two.

Mike Pelfrey gives Mets fans a reason to believe, and manager Jerry Manuel just might be his #1 cheerleader.

"He has tremendous, tremendous confidence right now when he takes the mound," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "He's relaxed, under control, and he's throwing some filthy stuff."

Pelfrey is now 13-8 with a 3.70 ERA on the season. There was a lot of talk earlier in the week about limiting his innings going forward, but with John Maine on the DL with bone spurs, that is no longer part of the discussion.

"I think sometimes we get too caught up in that pitch-count thing, this thing, innings, what have you," Manuel said. "If you can go out there and take the ball with where we are now, complete games are huge for us."

Even though he pitched two complete games back to back, upping his innings count, he only needed 108 pitches in each game. Are we that far along in "protectionist" mode that a starter can't throw 108 pitches?

In my opinion any game in the 90-110 pitch range is fine, regardless of innings. Johan Santana can go 100-120 pitches, as can Ollie, and Pelfrey and Pedro are solid 90-110 pitch guys.

"I had some huge double plays tonight," Pelfrey said. "My sinker was very, very good tonight and the guys behind me played great defense. So anytime that you mix those two together, it's going to be good."

"He's throwing some filthy stuff out there right now," Manuel said. "When you see good major league hitters react the way they do when they see one of his pitches -- (it) is something to see."

Mike Pelfrey is now to 11-2 since June 1st. It's a streak as dominant as anyone in baseball over that span, including CC Sabathia. The Astros heaped plenty of praise on the Mets young star.

"The guy throws predominantly all fastballs," Wigginton said. "Not too many guys can go (with) fastballs against Major League teams."

The other star of the night was Carlos Delgado. The big slugger gave the Mets something they're quite used to--a first inning lead, by blasting a 3-run homerun in the first frame. But Carlos wasn't done yet, he added his second 3-run dinger in the 7th after Houston intentionally walked David Wright.

Carlos gladly took a curtain call for his monster night.

Jose Reyes had a solid game and hit his major league leading 15th triple.

The Mets now go on the road to face the Phils and Fish--a huge week of baseball is upon us.

Delgado's resurgence has been one of the better stories for Met Nation in 2008. His career looked over early on, he was frustrated, the fans were frustrated, and his failures far outweighed his successes.

That has all changed, and he is as big a threat as the Mets have in their lineup. He is seeing the ball well, using all fields, and his power stroke is the talk of the town.

"I hit some balls good tonight," Delgado said. "I got some good swings."

Delgado, who s known for keeping detailed notes on all pitchers and situations, got a tip of the cap from his former teammate Brian Moehler, who gave up of a Delgado bomb.

"A home run is a home run," said Moehler, "It's not a fluke. He's a great player. He's probably one of the most prepared guys as far as scouting pitchers. It was Delgado's 4th multi-HR game of the year, and the Shea faithful got what they wanted--a curtain call. As you'll recall, Delgado took some heat earlier in the year for not coming out of the dugout for a curtain call.

"I didn't think it was the right time," an upbeat Delgado said of the early-season decision. "Six RBI and a couple home runs, I think it's the right time. So I think I learned my lesson, and instead of talking about it for three weeks, we come out, appreciate it, and I guess it's water under the bridge."

I'm smiling as I type this: Carlos Delgado leads the team with 28 home runs and 90 RBIs.

"He's erupted for us," third baseman David Wright said.

So on to Philly tonight with Pedro on the hill. Pedro has had an excellent August and is about to pitch far and away the biggest game of the season. Johan tomorrow night, and all Mets fans will be tuned in for the showdown.

Enjoy your coffee!