It's a make-or-break year for Pelfrey

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- It's been nearly five months since the season ended, and Mike Pelfrey still is angry.

Not the type of combustible fury that anyone would notice, the one that manifests itself in broken furniture or screaming tirades.

No, this is an inner rage. Pelfrey is angry at himself.

He's about to enter his fifth year as a full-time starter for the Mets, and it's not a stretch to say it could be his last. This is no secret. When it's mentioned that his career could very well hinge on the season ahead, Pelfrey cracks a slight smile, and then turns serious.

"I want to play this game for as long as I can," he said, "and I can't do that with having the kind of year I had last year. Going into the offseason, it kind of hits you like, 'Man, what happened?' So you go through it, you learn from it and you try to get better.

"I'm more determined not to let that happen again. Obviously, I need to have a good year or . . . I might not be back."

That's going to result in some changes. For one, Pelfrey doesn't find things so funny anymore -- the palm-licking, the balks, being part of whatever joke is circulating around the clubhouse.

There's nothing humorous about getting torched for 21 homers last season, or watching opponents steal with abandon (29 in 31 attempts) behind him. Or having your first-year manager name you the ace and then pitch like anything but, finishing 7-13 with a 4.74 ERA.

Now Pelfrey finds himself likely slotted as the No. 4 starter this season -- if Johan Santana is ready to start on time -- and he's not laughing.

"He used to be the kidder and the kiddee," pitching coach Dan Warthen said, "and now he's not taking it. I think he has a very singular direction for maybe the first time in his life. He's finally decided that he's going to be a major-league pitcher.

"He's dedicated himself to his delivery. We feel that he has a very sound one but he hasn't taken it from the bullpen to the mound. We haven't found out if he's going to do it yet, but if he takes it there, we have an incredibly great pitcher."

And if Pelfrey doesn't?

"Then Mike probably won't be pitching for us. You don't know that for sure, but we're going to get to that point."

Obviously, Pelfrey, 28, had come to this realization long before he arrived at Digital Domain Stadium last week. It's why he mostly has ditched the splitter, added the circle changeup -- a pitch he dusted off from his days at Wichita State -- and came up with an effective sinker grip after experimenting this winter with too many to count.

"I threw it and threw it and threw it," Pelfrey said. "I would throw it, and say this was not moving right here, let me try this. Eventually, I got to the grip where it came back. It started moving again.

"I think that's the biggest thing maybe I've done wrong. I've tried a thousand grips over and over again when it doesn't move -- and that's in the middle of the year. That's not the best time to do it. But I'm pretty pleased where it's at right now and hopefully, it continues to get better."

The improvement won't come sitting at his locker, which is why Pelfrey has been scarce in the clubhouse since he arrived. His spot is at the far end of rotation row, but you won't find him there for most of the morning.

At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, the day after his bullpen session -- and a half-hour before the rest of the Mets were scheduled to be on the field -- Pelfrey was back on the mound with Warthen.

"This became an 11-month job," Pelfrey said. "And the month I took off, I was always thinking about baseball, thinking about the past year -- what I did right, what I did wrong. Then you kind of move on. You clear your head and get to work."