Another bad start for Mets pitcher Pelfrey

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Mike Pelfrey can go ahead and change his initials from M.P. to P.U.

The stench created by Pelfrey this spring has been suffocating, to the point the Mets right-hander seemed to be hallucinating yesterday after allowing eight earned runs in a 9-5 exhibition loss to the Astros.

“I actually thought the ball came out of my hand the best it has all spring,” Pelfrey said, downplaying the fact he allowed 12 base runners over 2 2/3 innings and saw his spring ERA jump to 14.90. “Obviously, I walked way too many guys, and the ball was up a little bit. It came out good. I threw 80 pitches, so I was fine.”

spring training loss to the Astros." title="FINGER-LICKING BAD: Mike Pelfrey licks his fingers in a down moment during his poor outing yesterday in the Mets’ 9-5 spring training loss to the Astros." width="300" height="300" src="/rw/nypost/2012/03/19/sports/web_photos/19.1s058.puma.c--300x300.jpg" />

Reuters

FINGER-LICKING BAD: Mike Pelfrey licks his fingers in a down moment during his poor outing yesterday in the Mets’ 9-5 spring training loss to the Astros.

Manager Terry Collins tried to take a bullet for his pitcher, saying he instructed Pelfrey to concentrate on increasing velocity. Pelfrey had peaked around 87 mph during his previous two starts, and Collins wanted him to raise the heat.

“Here’s a guy who can pitch at 94 or 95 — we’ve got to build up,” Collins said. “I know he’s trying to work on some things, the sinker, and make some pitches, but it’s like a lot of things: If you’re fast and you don’t run fast, you’re not going to be fast, and I don’t want this guy to lose his fastball because he’s trying to make pitches. I wanted today to see some velocity.”

The real velocity came from Carlos Lee’s bat in the second inning. Lee crushed a flat Pelfrey sinker over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, giving the Astros a 7-3 lead. Pelfrey’s final line included eight hits, four walks and four strikeouts.

Pelfrey was a disaster last season, going 7-13 with a 4.74 ERA, but with so few viable alternatives, the Mets tendered him a contract. He is owed $5.68 million for this season, and would seem the most vulnerable to losing his job once Matt Harvey or Jeurys Familia is deemed ready.

In his first exhibition start, Pelfrey allowed four earned runs over 2 2/3 innings against Miami. He followed with four earned runs over 4 ¹/‚ƒ innings against St. Louis.

Then came yesterday’s wreckage.

“Every spring training I’ve had, I don’t know if I’ve had a good one,” Pelfrey said. “So it doesn’t necessarily concern me that much, but at the end of the day, I threw 80 pitches. I feel good.

“In [2010] I remember getting my brains beat in for five or six [exhibition] starts and then the last start I was in Tampa and allowed six innings, one run and started [the season] 9-1, so I’m not too worried about it. I feel good, and the results will come.”

Collins said the fact the Mets didn’t have most of their regular players on the field yesterday allowed him to overlook Pelfrey’s final numbers. But the manager had to dig for positives.

“He was around the plate, but he just couldn’t make a pitch with [the fastball],” Collins said.

Pelfrey said Collins’ mandate to increase velocity might have affected his rhythm.

“To build velocity you have to throw harder,” Pelfrey said. “I yanked a lot of sinkers. That might be a product of trying to throw too hard.

“It’s bad execution. Obviously, I’ve been up a lot, and the ball doesn’t sink when it’s up. I just didn’t execute a whole lot.”

mpuma@nypost.com

Mike Pelfrey, Terry Collins, spring training, Mets

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No one area Mets can claim as an advantage

Joel Sherman
Blog: Hardball

If you are a Mets fan, you certainly are familiar with their troubles — on and off the field.

Their defense is suspect. Their roster is thin. And did we mention that Madoff fellow? Ownership is deplored, Jose Reyes is in Miami and yet another season of an injury epidemic already is underway in Port St. Lucie.

The storyline around the Mets for a long while has been about misery — from finances to the field.

Yet after spending a week with the Mets this spring, I came away feeling their biggest problem was not their weaknesses, but their strengths. Or more aptly, their lack of them.

Anthony J. Causi

Jason Bay

Even bad teams generally have an area of the team that is viewed as a real asset to build hope, wins and possibly a future around — a good up-the-middle defense, a power-laden lineup, strong lefty pitching. Something.

But in my unofficial survey of what Mets officials see as their best qualities, they pointed to four areas that — at best — will need heaping helpings of good fortune to actually play out well enough to keep the Mets out of the NL East cellar. Here they are:

1. JOHAN SANTANA: I actually was shocked at how relatively unrestrained Mets officials were on Santana returning as an ace. The guy did miss all of last season. He did have a shoulder injury similar to Chien-Ming Wang, who missed the better parts of two seasons trying to make it back.

Even if we give Santana points for being a terrific athlete and savvy competitor, he still is wading into pretty uncharted territory. If you were an oddsmaker in Vegas, what would you make the over/under on number of 2012 starts for Santana? Ten? Fifteen? Eighteen? It certainly wouldn’t be 25-30.

Already manager Terry Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen have plotted an early season rotation plan in which Santana would get an extra day’s rest for his first seven starts. It is cautious and smart. It also is not the design for someone you should think of as a strength of your team.

If you are a Mets fan, look at this way: If there were a 33-year-old pitcher in another camp who missed all of last season with a serious shoulder ailment, what would you think of his chances of making a full comeback this year?

You can understand why the Mets are hoping for a full revival from Santana beyond that he is the highest-paid player in team history. The Mets simply have no rotation depth after a front five of Santana, R.A. Dickey, Dillon Gee, Jonathon Niese and Mike Pelfrey. So it is not only that the Mets would lose their No. 1 starter without Santana, but that they have no good options at No. 6.

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Mets, the Mets, Mets fan, JOHAN SANTANA

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Michigan State holds off St. Louis

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Draymond Green scored 16 points with 13 rebounds and set up Keith Appling’s late 3-pointer, giving top-seeded Michigan State a 65-61 win over Saint Louis on Sunday and sending the Spartans to the round of 16 in the West Regional of the NCAA tournament.

Michigan State will play No. 4 seed Louisville on Thursday in Phoenix.

Appling added 19 points for the Spartans (29-7), who had to scrap their way past the ninth-seeded Billikens (26-8). Saint Louis controlled the tempo but never got a complete handle on Green, Michigan State’s superb senior. He added six assists and even helped mop up sweat off the floor in the final minute.

Kwamain Mitchell scored 13 and Brian Conklin 11 for Saint Louis, back in the tournament for the first time since 2000.

Saint Louis, NCAA tournament.Michigan State, Michigan State, Draymond Green, COLUMBUS, Ohio, the Spartans

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Turnover-prone Jefferson leaves Garden unhappy

Boys & Girls was not the only team to beat Thomas Jefferson on Saturday under the bright lights at Madison Square Garden. Jefferson also beat itself.

“Everyone wanted to make history today, we knew what was on the table,” Jefferson coach Lawrence (Bud) Pollard said. “You’re only as good as your last game, though, and the turnovers and missed free throws came back to bite us.”

Despite being a championship caliber team, Jefferson struggled mightily in the PSAL Class AA city championship game. The Orange Wave committed a self-destructive 21 turnovers and shot a meager 54 percent from the free throw line, as Boys & Girls came away with a 71-67 victory and their third straight city title.

Denis Gostev

Thomas Jefferson's players upset after the loss to Boys & Girls.

Photos: Braziller: Fludd cements legacy with gritty effort

Normally an evenly matched contest between the two Brooklyn powerhouses, with Jefferson even defeating Boys & Girls in the borough title game, Jefferson found itself down early and was unable to completely erase the deficit.

“The game was going fast, we just couldn’t settle down and get into a rhythm,” said Jefferson guard Jaquan (Son Son) Lynch, who finished with a team high 18 points. “But next year, we’ll be back. We’ll be here again.”

“I just wish we could have played a best-of-five series against them. I would trade the Brooklyn championship for this one,” Pollard added. “But my hat goes off to them, they were just better than us today.”

Jefferson star senior and offensive spark plug Thaddeus Hall finished with a solid 17-point, five-rebound performance, but struggled from beyond the arc as well as leading the team with four turnovers. After hitting a 3-pointer with 6:40 left in the first quarter, he missed the rest of his five shots from 3-point range and was unable to fill the role of catalyst for the Jefferson offense late in the game like he has throughout the season.

“Thad was forcing some shots, but during the season, he usually made most of the shots he missed today,” Pollard said. “It’s the title game, so we rode him until the wheels fell off.”

It wasn’t just the Jefferson (25-7) offensive woes that did in its championship hopes, as its inability to cover Boys & Girls (24-6) transfer guard Rashad Andrews hurt them too. Andrews lit up the scoreboard early, even outscoring the entire Jefferson team, 14-13, at the 1:33 mark in the first quarter. He buried 3-point shot after 3-point shot, ending with a perfect 5-for-5 ratio from beyond the arc as he finished with a game-high 26 points before fouling out with 3:32 left in the fourth quarter, but not before Jefferson’s title hopes had been dashed.

“Andrews was lights out and he was the difference in the game for sure, we knew someone would have that type of game,” Pollard said. “Whoever has the best backup dancers usually steals the show, and that’s what happened today.”

Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson, Boys , Boys , PSAL Class AA city championship, Rashad Andrews ebook download, Madison Square Garden

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Sports Shorts

MLB: Struggling Halladay insists he is fine

Roy Halladay said he’s not injured and the two-time Cy Young Award winner criticized a report suggesting something may be wrong with him because he’s struggled in spring training.

Halladay got rocked for five runs and seven hits before getting yanked in the third inning of Philadelphia’s loss to Minnesota on Wednesday. A report surfaced quoting two unidentified scouts expressing concern that Halladay’s velocity is down and his sharpness is off.

“It couldn’t be further from the truth,’’ Halladay said yesterday.

The Royals signed shortstop Alcides Escobar to a $10.5 million, four-year extension that includes two option years.

Golf: Course record gives Harrington lead

Padraig Harrington set a course record with a career-low 10-under-par 61 to grab a three-shot lead after the first round of the Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Harrington birdied his final three holes to move clear of Will Claxton, who had a seven-under 64.

World No.2 Luke Donald and Justin Rose, who won the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday, both shot four-under 67s.

In Phoenix, top-ranked Yani Tseng finished with a 7-under 65 for a share of the first-round lead with Hee Young Park in the LPGA Founders Cup.

etc.: Barcelona’s Abidal needs transplant

Barcelona defender Eric Abidal will undergo a liver transplant in the coming weeks, the club said. The 32-year-old France international had a tumor removed from his liver on March 17, 2011, but returned to play and has showed few effects.

Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Stansbury announced he is retiring after 14 seasons, and a 293-166 record, including 11 postseason appearances.

In Redwood City, Calif., Mohammed Haroon Ali was convicted of first-degree murder after his second trial for the 1999 killing of Tracey Biletnikoff ,daughter of former Raiders star Fred Biletnikoff.

Manchester City crashed out of the Europa League on away goals despite rallying for a 3-2 home win against Sporting Lisbon. City needed four goals to advance.

Halladay, Alcides Escobar, Hee Young Park, Yani Tseng, Mohammed Haroon Ali, Eric Abidal, Harrington, Royals, Cy Young Award, course record

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Kentucky will make itself at home

Here we are again: Kentucky going into the NCAA Tournament with a gorilla the size of the Empire State Building on coach John Calipari’s shoulders.

He has the most unique program in college basketball. Each year he brings in the nation’s best recruiting class, molds the freshmen into a selfless group, some glitch gets him in the Tournament and they all go to the NBA.

The Wildcats are loaded. They are the team to beat with the coach to question.

Best Player: Kentucky C Anthony Davis — The most dominant force in college hoops blocked an SEC-record 154 shots.

AP

Kentucky’s Marquis Teague

Unsung Hero: Wichita State C Garrett Stutz — Not many teams have a 7-foot senior center who averages 13.5 points on 56-percent shooting.

Best Second-round Matchup: No. 5 Wichita State vs. No. 12 VCU — The Shockers are a big, physical team that is 15th nationally in rebounding margin and prefers a halfcourt game. VCU, a Final Four team last year, leads the nation in steals (10.7) and wants a frenetic pace.

Second-round Upset: No. 7 Notre Dame could not have gotten a worse draw. The Irish are not a quick team. Look for No. 10 Xavier to beat them off the dribble.

Sleeper: No. 10 Xavier — This team was KO’d after a brawl with Cincinnati early in the season. This is their comeback.

OK Corral: Baylor knocks down 38 percent of its 3s and 74.7 percent of its free throws.

CHAMPION: Kentucky — Has six players who can and do start.

Kentucky, Wichita State, the Empire State Building, Anthony Davis, NCAA Tournament, college basketball, coach John Calipari’s

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Left Scores Big in Slovak Vote

Slovaks, angered by a corruption scandal and weary of government austerity measures, threw their support in weekend parliamentary elections behind a left-leaning politician who has pledged to raise taxes on companies and the wealthy.

Robert Fico's Smer-Social Democracy party won a clear legislative majority, capturing 83 of the 150 seats in the national assembly—the first time since independence in 1993 that a single party has received enough votes to govern on its own, without coalition partners.

The victory for the Slovak left is a sign of mounting frustration among Europeans who have endured years of budget cuts and have yet to see sustained economic benefits. It also shows the pressure on politicians caught between their constituents' desires and the European Union's fiscal rules.

Emerging Europe Blog

Commentary: Slovak Vote Brings End to Nationalists, Populists

At-times violent anti-austerity demonstrations forced the resignation of Romania's center-right prime minister this year. And France's Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande is leading in the polls while promising to rethink Europe's approach to austerity.

"We succeeded with what we offered as an alternative," said Mr. Fico, who struck a chord with the electorate by arguing that the previous administration had been too hard on the poor and not focused enough on job creation in a country where unemployment is around 13%.

The leader of the alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, said Sunday that he hoped Mr. Fico's win marked "the beginning of a new, more social Europe."

Smer-Social Democracy was also helped by corruption allegations that hurt right-leaning parties at the polls. In December, purported transcripts of wiretaps were posted anonymously online, related to bribes allegedly paid by a private-equity firm to people across the political spectrum. Those named have denied wrongdoing. The Interior Ministry is investigating.

On Sunday, Mr. Fico pledged to adhere to Slovakia's European Union-mandated deficit target of below 3% of gross domestic product for next year, in part by raising taxes on personal incomes of wealthier Slovaks and raising the corporate tax rate to 22% on the country's most profitable companies.

"We realize how important it is to have healthy public finances," Mr. Fico said Sunday. He also vowed to support the EU's efforts to protect the euro, which Slovakia adopted in 2009, and recover from the sovereign debt crisis that has plagued the Continent.

"Social issues were a big factor, especially for left-leaning voters," said Grigorij Meseznikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs, a Slovak think-tank. "Many people have fears that they don't have enough protection" from the impacts of Europe's economic troubles.

A split over whether Slovakia, the euro zone's second-poorest member after Estonia, should participate in a bailout of more affluent Greece led to the collapse in October of Slovakia's previous government, a coalition of four right-leaning parties led by Iveta Radicova.

When Ms. Radicova couldn't muster the votes necessary to ratify an expansion of a euro-zone rescue fund, effectively stalling EU stability efforts, Mr. Fico and his Smer-Social Democracy agreed to support the measure in exchange for early elections.

Mr. Fico, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010, has opposed further privatization of state assets and says he is against raising the retirement age for women. Some of his policy positions echo those of the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban next door.

Mr. Orban's center-right administration has sought to meet EU-imposed deficit targets while minimizing the pain on the country's middle class in part by levying windfall taxes on banks and other big businesses and by diverting privately managed pension money back to state coffers.

—Leos Rousek contributed to this article.

Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com

Smer-Social Democracy party, government austerity measures, European Union, Slovakia, Europe, Europe, Smer-Social Democracy, parliamentary elections, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Fico, Hannes Swoboda

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