FLUSHING, NY - Back in Spring Training if anyone thought Mike Pelfrey would be the Mets best pitcher come the All-Star break, he or she would have been laughed at and thought to be a kook.

Not even Pelfrey himself would have figured he would be this good.

Yet, there he was at Shea Stadium tonight mowing down the San Francisco Giants to a 7-0 win. It was a fitting score on the night the Mets honored the 20 years the New York Jets played in Queens and the new Mets ace chipped in by making the Giants look like they were coached by Herman Edwards.

For Pelfrey, it’s now 5-0 in his last five starts and the Mets are now 7-1 and in his last eight with an ERA of 2.64 over that period. These are the type of numbers you expected from Johan Santana, when the lefthander signed his $137.5 million contract before the beginning of the season. But Santana seems to struggle as Pelfrey becomes the Mets go-to guy over the past month.

“It all started when he scrapped that two-seamer and started to use his four-seamer,” said catcher Brian Schneider. “He kind of toned down his velocity a little bit and locating his fastball. Before he was just throwing that sinker; he had control problems; and he would always fall behind. Ever since he threw that four-seamer, it’s been real easy for him to get back into counts.”

Pelfrey’s biggest change came when he added the four-seam fastball to his mix. At the beginning of the season, he was using just the two-seamer and slider and now a third pitch gives him a better selection to work a batter. Also, on the advice of new pitching coach Dan Warthen, the big righthander is using his curveball, which he threw four times in tonight’s game.

It remains to be seen if Pelfrey can keep wins coming, after all it’s only been a short sample of what he can do in the big leagues. But it’s not too much of a stretch to see the 24 year-old be a staple in the Mets rotation for years to come.

Pelfrey was the ninth overall pick in the 2005 draft and would have been selected higher if his agent Scott Boras didn’t scare off teams, due to perceived contract demands. But those Boras fears were Met gains and highly rated prospect was rushed to the majors, making his debut just 13 months after being drafted and only three months into his pro career.

Maybe that hurt him a little and it took time for Pelfrey to get his confidence up. But the Mets, and the 48,887 on hand tonight saw, a Namath-like self-assurance as a star has been developing right before their eyes.

“What did it for Mike is having some success, breeding confidence,” said manager Jerry Manuel. “To come to the Major Leagues, there’s always a question whether or not you can accomplish it. There was a period where he struggled and I thought that was a bigger factor on what he brought to the mound for success.”

It takes time for some pitchers and they have to learn how to win in the big leagues. Even the greats struggled in the beginnings of their career. Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz were hammered their first few seasons; Mariano Rivera was a mediocre middle reliever in 1995, as was Santana back in 2000. Those pitchers learned how to win, much like Pelfrey has over the six weeks.

“When you throw the ball with conviction, it acts differently,” Pelfrey said, “compared to when you nibble. I found that location was more important than velocity and I can go out there and hit a spot at 91 or 92.”

And that’s learning. If the Mets are going to make the playoffs this season, they will need a strong five man rotation. Even if Santana and Pedro Martinez pitch up to their standards in the second half, New York will need something more.

They may have just found it in Mike Pelfrey.

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