Credit to Jerry Manuel for allowing Mike Pelfrey to throw the first complete game of his career. The Met fans in attendance were worried that Manuel might go to the bullpen in the 9th inning. Recent history has proved goingto the bullpen is a nail biting affair, often resulting in blown saves.

I wrote a piece the other day saying Manuel should allow his top starter, Johan Santana, to go the distance in all his starts because the Mets NEED to win all those Santana starts in a tight playoff race with the Phillies.

Before last night’s Met game was over I had amended my piece to include Oliver Perez. Here is what I wrote:

Also, Oliver Perez has only averaged 5.2 innings per his 26 starts this year. This average is somewhat low because of three very bad short stints. Remember that one third of an inning debacle? But, those three real bad starts were earlier in the season. Perez has thrown very well his last 10 starts, going 4-2 with a 2.19 ERA. More importantly, the Mets are 8-2 in those 10 starts.

Still, in those 10 real good starts, Perez has been allowed to average 6.2 innings per. This is unacceptable. He is much better a pitcher than any of the Met relievers.

Perez is very likely not to return to the Mets next season, so the Mets manager needs to begin to treat him like a trading deadline rental player – similar to CC Sabathia. Let Perez go 120+ pitches every game and get through 8 or more innings. Perez is a quality pitcher but has never been allowed to get out of tough, late inning situations, but like Santana - he is better than anyone in the Mets bullpen.

Of course, the only time to remove Santana and Perez earlier would be if the Mets are down by a few runs. I wouldn’t even remove them for a pinch hitter if the Mets were only down a run or two.

The Mets two top starters are better than anybody in the bullpen, even after 100 pitches. They should be allowed to remain in all games which are close.

I would even treat Mike Pelfrey the same way because he usually is very economical with pitches and does not often have a big inning against him. But, I know the Mets are already worried about his total innings.

Once again, I am glad to see Jerry Manuel go “old school” and let his top pitchers throw.