Maddux has a 1.73 ERA at Petco Park.This is the perfect opportunity for the Mets to take another series. Mike Pelfrey goes tonight against Josh Banks, who is starting for the only the second time in his career. On May 31, in Banks' first and only start in the bigs, he pitched a complete game shut out in San Francisco Pelfrey just got a vote of confidence from the club. They could have sent him to New Orleans, but opted to let him sink-or-swim on the major-league level.After winning his first two starts of the season, Pelfrey has gone 0-6, with two no decisions It is not as bad as it seems.

In those eight starts, Pelfrey logged in four quality ones to go with the clunkers. His last start is the one, however, that the Mets are hoping to see more of. Seven strong innings against the Dodgers: 2 ER, 7H, 6K, and only 1 BB. In that game, Pelfrey got ahead in the count on hitters and got outs when he needed to. The Mets hope he can build on that performance.If he can, that would give the Mets a fairly solid rotation.

John Maine has been steady, Johan Santana is settling in, and Pedro Martinez's 109-pitch debut was an encouraging sign. Only Oliver Perez remains a question, and the Mets are seeking solutions to get him straightened out.This weekend in San Diego is key for New York They need three-of-four here to move up in the NL East. Right now, they are only 3.5 games out.Florida has leveled off, losing six of their last 10, and Atlanta has just shut down John Smoltz for the year. That leaves the Phillies, who we knew would gamely defend their division title. They have won eight-of-10 and head down to Atlanta and Florida for the next week.. Dodger shortstop Rafael Furcal was initially supposed to miss only a game or two with a sore back.

Instead, nearly a month later, he is still disabled and causing frustrated fantasy owners and Dodger players and fans a great deal of anxiety.  Prior to his being placed on the disabled list retroactive to May 6, Furcal was leading the league in hits with 49 and led the Dodgers in virtually every offensive category, while playing gold glove-caliber shortstop. In his absence, replacements Chin-Lung Hu and Luis Maza have hit .167 and .250 between them while seldom hitting the ball out of the infield.Furcal was undoubtedly a fantasy stud this year performing exceptionally well in all categories. When healthy he is a phenomenal base stealer who has the potential to hit 15+ homers while hitting for a .300+ average and scoring well over 100 runs. He added a much needed component to the anemic Dodger offense which has scored 2 or fewer runs in 9 of the last 13 games en route to losing 2 out of 3 to the lowly Colorado Rockies (the Dodgers managed to score a grand total of 1 run in the final 21 innings of the series).It is still unknown exactly when Furcal will be back, but there are encouraging signs as he has been throwing and hitting recently. However, he still is likely to go on a rehab assignment and nobody knows how the bad back will affect his offensive prowess. Chin-Lung Hu has proved that the Dodgers lack viable replacement options so Furcal will be sorely needed in the immediate and perhaps long term future. Fantasy owners are also shaking their heads while being forced to replace Furcal with the likes of Jhonny Perralta and JJ Hardy for the time being.