Not even Pelfrey himself would have figured he would be this good.

Yet, there he was at Shea Stadium tonight mowing down the San Francisco Giants to a 7-0 win. It was a fitting score on the night the Mets honored the 20 years the New York Jets played in Queens and the new Mets ace chipped in by making the Giants look like they were coached by Herman Edwards.

For Pelfrey, it’s now 5-0 in his last five starts and the Mets are now 7-1 and in his last eight with an ERA of 2.64 over that period. These are the type of numbers you expected from Johan Santana, when the lefthander signed his $137.5 million contract before the beginning of the season. But Santana seems to struggle as Pelfrey becomes the Mets go-to guy over the past month.

“It all started when he scrapped that two-seamer and started to use his four-seamer,” said catcher Brian Schneider. “He kind of toned down his velocity a little bit and locating his fastball. Before he was just throwing that sinker; he had control problems; and he would always fall behind. Ever since he threw that four-seamer, it’s been real easy for him to get back into counts.”

Pelfrey’s biggest change came when he added the four-seam fastball to his mix. At the beginning of the season, he was using just the two-seamer and slider and now a third pitch gives him a better selection to work a batter. Also, on the advice of new pitching coach Dan Warthen, the big righthander is using his curveball, which he threw four times in tonight’s game.

It remains to be seen if Pelfrey can keep wins coming, after all it’s only been a short sample of what he can do in the big leagues. But it’s not too much of a stretch to see the 24 year-old be a staple in the Mets rotation for years to come.

Pelfrey was the ninth overall pick in the 2005 draft and would have been selected higher if his agent Scott Boras didn’t scare off teams, due to perceived contract demands. But those Boras fears were Met gains and highly rated prospect was rushed to the majors, making his debut just 13 months after being drafted and only three months into his pro career.

Maybe that hurt him a little and it took time for Pelfrey to get his confidence up. But the Mets, and the 48,887 on hand tonight saw, a Namath-like self-assurance as a star has been developing right before their eyes.

“What did it for Mike is having some success, breeding confidence,” said manager Jerry Manuel. “To come to the Major Leagues, there’s always a question whether or not you can accomplish it. There was a period where he struggled and I thought that was a bigger factor on what he brought to the mound for success.”

It takes time for some pitchers and they have to learn how to win in the big leagues. Even the greats struggled in the beginnings of their career. Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz were hammered their first few seasons; Mariano Rivera was a mediocre middle reliever in 1995, as was Santana back in 2000. Those pitchers learned how to win, much like Pelfrey has over the six weeks.

“When you throw the ball with conviction, it acts differently,” Pelfrey said, “compared to when you nibble. I found that location was more important than velocity and I can go out there and hit a spot at 91 or 92.”

And that’s learning. If the Mets are going to make the playoffs this season, they will need a strong five man rotation. Even if Santana and Pedro Martinez pitch up to their standards in the second half, New York will need something more.

They may have just found it in Mike Pelfrey.

It will be interesting to see Delgado and if he will be able to break out of his slump with him 1-12 this spring, including the first at-bat.

Also keep your eyes on Carlos Beltran, who is still rehabbing his knees.

Update third inning: It’s 3-0 Mets, with Endy Chavez driving in Pelfrey and Jose Reyes. Beltran is playing the field for the first time. Delgado beat out a double play, scoring Chavez – after Beltran was hit – 4-o Mets. They are racking Braden Looper.

Update bottom third: Albert Pujols just drove in a run to make it 4-1 but Endy just made a beautiful play to throw out Duncan at home on a fly ball for the DP.

Update: bottom four: Anderson Hernandez in for Reyes. Two Cards doubles in a row makes it 4-2 Mets.

Update bottom five: wholesale changes with Saenz at third, Cancel at first and Pagan in center.

Bottom Seven: Two runs for the Cards. one in the sixth and one in the seventh as I was in the Mets clubhouse.

• When the season ended the Mets were going to bring back Paul Lo Duca, according to one baseball official, for a year and an option or even two years. But when that was proposed to Lo Duca’s agent, Andrew Mongelluzzi, he came back with a demand of four years and Omar Minaya looked elsewhere.
• The thoughts on Lastings Milledge is that he’s not a bad kid and is immature. That said, most around the Mets think the deal with help the team next year.
• According to people close to the Nationals, Brian Schneider is a solid defensive catcher, who knows how to handle pitchers. He is going to help the Mets on the short term.
• There’s no truth to the cross dressing John Maine rumor. He is in Virginia hunting according to the Mets.
• No matter what happens on the trade front, Willie Randolph will speak tommorrow to the press and then will have lunch with the Mets writers [all the writers will have lunch with the manager of the team they cover], including myself.
• Cal Ripken is here and had a press conference for Field Turf today, he has been around the resort and very approachable by everyone.

I don’t understand why.

Milledge, for all his potential, put up a number of red flags over the past two seasons. First, he rubbed teammates the wrong way with his me-first attitude. Then after having a great spring last season, the 22 year-old went on the disabled list for half the season and when he came back was good, but not great. And let’s not forget the rap album and angering opposing players, which made him a target at the plate.

Due to this, his value went down. It’s true that Omar Minaya could have gotten more last winter, but that’s the price teams pay for holing onto their prospects. Sometimes they go up in trade value and sometimes the stock goes down.

That said, Minaya filled a need on the Mets. With outfield prospects Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez behind Milledge, he delt from a strength to fill two holes: one behind the plate in Schneider and a proven outfielder in Chruch who will help the Mets next season.

And that’s more than Milledge could offer the Mets now. 

It’s true that in a few years, the Milledge may be a star, but Minaya couldn’t wait. The Mets are built for 2008 with an aging lineup and Pedro Martinez in his last year of his contract. To make up for the 2007 collapse, the Mets need to make the playoffs next season, so the general manager is filling holes for now.

That doesn’t include Milledge, who hit only .250 against righties last season, and was fooled by the offspeed stuff at times. 

With both Gomez or Martinez, both rising through the ranks quickly, “Lasto” became expendable.

And thus he’s a Washington National today, while the Mets made the 2008 team stronger.

It’s true Gomez could be moved for pitching later on, but Martinez seems like the best of the bunch and given time, he may make everyone forget Lastings Milledge.