Pelfrey beats Phils, ends Mets' skid at 5

PHILADELPHIA -- Mike Pelfrey knew he was in for a tough day Wednesday, having to face his old pals Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard at Citizens Bank Park, a personal house of horrors for him.

What Pelfrey didn't realize, however, is that a few Mets fans would be hanging over the bullpen ledge as he warmed up before the game. Nothing like a few friendly faces to provide some words of encouragement in a hostile environment, right?

Not quite. Here's a quickie transcript provided by Pelfrey from his bullpen buddy, who claimed he was a Mets fan.

"You've killed this team."

"Try not to lick your hand 100 times."

"You might be a nice guy -- try volleyball."

Compared to that, standing on a mound in the middle of another sellout crowd of 45,689 was a welcome refuge for Pelfrey, who kept his head down and plowed through a sluggish six innings in dragging the Mets to a 7-4 victory over the Phillies that took 3 hours, 41 minutes.

Pelfrey, whose 9.38 ERA at CBP was his highest anywhere, needed a career-high 125 pitches, including 42 in the second inning, as the Phillies nicked him for nine hits and three runs during his tedious stay. He labored so much in that second inning, when the Phillies trimmed their deficit to 4-3, that SNY timed him with an on-screen clock.

He took 37 seconds between pitches at one point -- nearly twice what is allowed by the MLB rule designed to speed up the pace of games. But no one on the Mets' bench was complaining, and especially not Terry Collins, whose team was trying to end a five-game losing streak.

"That's what those guys are for," Collins said. "That's what they're supposed to do. They say, I'll get you where you need to get to, just bear with me. It may not be the prettiest, but I'll get you there."

Pelfrey (7-10) had some help in earning his first victory since July 27. David Wright had two RBIs, including his 11th home run, but the heavy lifting was done by Nick Evans, who slugged a three-run homer in the first inning and added an RBI double and a single as he continued his two-day reign of terror over the Phillies.

Counting his last two at-bats in Tuesday night's loss, Evans was 5-for-5 with a single, two doubles, a triple and home run before lining out to third in the seventh inning. With Lucas Duda now slotted for full-time duty in rightfield in preparation for 2012, Evans will get an extended look at first base, and that experiment has worked so far.

"That's all you can ask for, is to get a chance to play," Evans said.

Collins also was pleased to see Bobby Parnell pass his first test in the closer's role, even if he did provide some anxious moments. Parnell issued a leadoff walk to Utley in the ninth, but struck out Howard and Hunter Pence. After another walk to John Mayberry, he got Carlos Ruiz on a grounder to short to seal the second save of his career -- and first since 2009.

"The walks are just nerves, I guess," Parnell said. "I thought I was throwing it down the middle. They'll go away."

Pelfrey got a little amped up himself in the sixth inning during a brief confrontation with Placido Polanco. With two outs, Pelfrey threw a 2-and-2 slider inside that narrowly missed Polanco. In Pelfrey's estimation, Polanco should have tried harder to move.

"I hung a slider and I just thought he leaned into it," Pelfrey said. "I told him, don't lean into it, he said he didn't and that was it. It was done."

The matter was settled on the field, but not up in the Phillies' TV booth, where analyst Gary Matthews labeled the Mets "crybabies" in seeing Pelfrey complain to Polanco. Collins later shrugged off the comment, as did Pelfrey.

"I don't care," he said. "I've been called worse, I can tell you that."