Shea Goodbye: 79 to go

Aaaaaaand ... breathe ...

Now that feels better.

Glad to see the Mets show some patience and hold off on swinging at pitches thrown nowhere near the strikezone. Kyle Kendrick -- who's soft-tosser Paul Byrd, only 15 years younger (and without the control) -- should not be beating top teams with patient hitters, and the Mets didn't let him do it to them. They needed this. They needed a win to get the Phillies out of their heads. And they needed Mike Pelfrey to build some confidence and have a solid start to his 2008 campaign.

There are a lot of Mets fans at work who are down on Pelfrey, who see nothing in his future with this team. I'm not there yet. This is definitely his do-or-die year; he has to show he's ready to pitch consistently at this level. Will he ever be a No. 1 starter? Probably not. But he can be a capable, reliable middle-of-the-rotation piece, if not a decent No. 2.

Here's hoping Wednesday night was just the start, for both Pelfrey and the Mets.