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During last night’s 13–0 win over the Marlins, Oliver Perez pitched 
six scoreless innings, and allowed five hits and one walk while striking out eight…
…as i said last night, his slider was terrific, changing speeds, and all around the zone…his success his two fold, a) remain focused, and b) get the best from his slider…that’s all…and he did that last night…
Willie Randolph, on Perez, following last night’s game:
“Man, I could bottle that and put it away…He was awesome tonight…All his pitches were pretty crisp, even his change up…He stayed in his rhythm the majority of the game, that’s the real key for him…He needs to mature. That’s a big part of his development. He needs to be able, when things go wrong, to lock back in and stay focused on the task at hand. Obviously, he’s very capable of doing that, which he showed tonight. He just needs to be able to do it more consistently.”
According to Filip Bondy in the Daily News, last night’s performance by Perez was just what the Mets needed following the disappointing news about Pedro Martinez’s hamstring injury.
David Wright essentially agreed, saying the following, as quoted by the New York Post:
“It was big of Oliver Perez to do what he did…To do it on the same day Pedro went down makes it that much bigger.”
…i tend to agree…i mean, personally, i was feeling a tad dejected prior to last night’s game, which is not to say i was pessimistic…i was just, blah, a bit bummed by the set back…however, i feel much better today, while daydreaming of how great i believe perez, John Maine and Johan Santana can be together…it was sort of like ollie’s outing smacked me in the face and woke me up…thanks, opie…
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Mark the date…Wallace Matthews actually wrote a positive article about the Mets today…
what!!!! WM is capable of saying something positive…. Def a must read
Is there a deep freeze in Hell or something?
I noticed very few changeups last night. ‘Course, my little Mets fan had woken me up at 4 AM yesterday morning, so I was kinda tired and didn’t make it into the sixth inning.
i agree with you Matt… i also felt bummed after the turn of events with pedro.. and maybe still do.. even though we have never fully got the best of pedro during his tenure w/ us, we as Mets (team and the fans) have embraced him… the life he brings kind of elevates the team in numerous ways… he is what we all see Jose becoming… the talented player with a kids heart… makes us all nostalgic about our childhood just seeing a grown man having that much fun playing baseball, because majority of the players treat it like a business and lose the innocent love of the game.. without pedro, we sometimes lack the lifeblood.. and that is what we and more importantly the rest of the team might miss the most..
well said.. yesterday was rough for me too..I had DVR’ed the game and was watching it yesterday morning before work. After the first two innings, my wife couldn’t overcome her curiosity and checked the mets website for a score… the way she said “uh-oh” I knew I didn’t want to watch the rest. I actually stayed away from the mets news and interviews I usually listen to driving around during the day..didn’t want to hear all of the post-first-game-pre-second-game optimism that remained unlistened…Last night was a perfect tonic for all of that. I still like our staff, the bullpen looks determined, and this offense has something to prove. And the Phillies got shut out by the nationals. life is good again ;)
Love watching Ollie when he’s on………..HATE thinking about who his agent is. Anyone else feel slighted that Perez refuses to talk a contract with the team who took him from the scrap heap and gave him a chance on the big stage? Because of the exposure the Mets gave him some team like the Giants will give him too much money and too many years and the Mets will be stuck with a draft pick in return. He’ll probably end up with the Yankees next year!
I don’t have a problem with him not discussing his contract. Baseball is a business. From a business standpoint, Ollie and his agent have decided to wait until the season’s end. Besides, the Mets never approached him with a contract. All they offered was low-ball insult of an arbitration offer that they lost in 2 seconds. Why should he go to them. Also, at this point, if he keeps pitching like last night he is going to get PAID. I think that we Met fans had better come to terms with Ollie not being here next year. That is a definite possibility.
Why should he? Because he would be in the minors right now had Peterson not worked with him and had the Mets offense given him the runs he needs to win games…
I agree its a business, but its Boras we are talking about…he is the slimiest agent out there and poor Ollie will end up on a crappy team that wants to overpay for mid level talent and his ERA will go up and he’ll wish he stayed with the mets, even for less money.
If that game were played at Shea, or anywhere else for that matter, one of Beltran’s doubles would have been an HR as well as Wright’s double would have been gone.
Actually two of Beltran’s doubles would have been HR (the one that hit high off the fence in left and the one that went over the fence in right).
And a couple of the flyouts that Ollie had might have gone too. It all evens out.
Right! Good point. Play the game in the stadium in which it is scheduled, enjoy the quirks and uniqueness of each and stop WHINING!!!!!!
I’m beginning to wonder how many posters on this blog actually ENJOY watching baseball, win or lose!
The left field wall and part of the right field wall at Citifield are fairly tall as well and would have kept a couple of those shots in, maybe even Church’s…its gonna be interesting….
I know the assumption is that Boras will take him to FA, but has Perez (or Boras, probably wouldn’t understand what Perez was talking about!) ever come out and said that they refuse to discuss a deal during the season?
In any case, Omar should at least explore the option and push for them to try and work something out. I know all about wanting to make sure he doesn’t regress, etc., but if they have the chance to lock him up now, do it. Sure it will be costly, but it won’t be any cheaper to get pitching in the off seaosn.
And heck, next year I won’t be getting into Citifiled anyway, so it really isn’t my money!
I said this earlier before the season started. Give him until the Allstar break to decide on a fair contract, something like what Silva got. Tell him if he does not take it before the season ends then we will treat him like any other FA pitcher. He can throw his name out there with CC, Sheets, and others.
I could have swore that Omar said as they were nearing arbitration that they were trying to talk long term but Boras didn’t want to hear it. I believe there was even discussion here about it.
If that game was played any where else then Florida Wright would have 4 homers this year… He hit two to the warning track in dead center and one of the top of that stupid wall…Its like the monster in fenway but 400 ft away….
Matt, When Oli is on he is top notch. If the Mets can find a way to get him consistent, that top 3(no petey) is just ridiculous….
I would have to think he will NOT be Met next year, but you have to think he would want to stay, no? It seems like he gets along with everyone, its definitely latino based club to say the least. Mets have a chance to win every year now. I guess especially when u have Boras its all about the money tho…
I too felt bummed out from the news that pedro was gonna be out for 4-6 weeks(and BT/SC didnt help that much either…), but the way this kid pitched in light of that news made me remember we did ok w/o pedro last year and there is no reason we cannot do it better this year. Ollie has great stuff and im excited to see what he can do when hes on. He’s young and lefty i think the mets should def try to lock him up before he hits the market at the end of the year. Just dealing with scott will suck but hey we got a promising young kid here (thanks to rick). Hope pedro can come back soon and finally contribute to the mets rather than the DL. Glad to see also this team developing the killer instinct they need to dominate over lesser teams. Yes we all know they scored 13-0 against the marlins but hell THATS WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. Glad to see the return from milledge paying off(church hitting well and against lefties + great defense, schnieder looking good behind the plate and his offense is looking good). Now its up to the maine event to put on a show like he did all spring….
It was a really good sign to see Ollie shut down that inning with the error that was made behind him. He kept the runner stranded at third. Very good sign … if he stays focused like that all year long he’s going to have a HUGE year.
I mentioned this in the postgame thread…I feel Schneider was paying special attention to keep Ollie with him last night. Brian seems to have a good way with his staff, making sure they’re focused and with-it before they throw. I like it and it bodes well. He’s a real key to this year and I hope he can stay on the field.
It was also very interesting that David Wright went out to talk to him along with Schneider. D-Wright has become the defacto Captain of this team.
Yeah that was pretty funny with the bubble gum. Peterson was shaking his head in the dugout.
Schneider is going to make a really big, positive impact on this team … and he’ll do so very quietly. Glad to have him.
I thought that Perez was really on his game last night, but more importantly under control emotionally.
Found it amusing when Wright went to Perez and told him to put in another piece of gum. This was after Perez was a little late to cover first on a fister hit to Delgado. It wasn’t that Perez was at fault, but his delivery takes him way to the 3rd base side. He busted it to first but just couldn’t get there in time. Wright was smart to get Perez off of the mound so he could get both his breath and mental control back before facing the next batter.
One thing that seems to be getting lost right now is Schnieder’s awesome play. I have been very impressed at the way he has handled pitchers. He looks to be very solid behind the plate. I know he historically has not been much of a hitter, but when you look at him right now he sure does look good at the plate and is hitting the ball very hard. Sure hope he keeps this up all year!
I’ll admit that I was very skeptical on Church, but right now I’m having a hard time not liking this guy. Solid in RF and also looks good at the plate.
the milledge trade’s looking good so far. Don’t forget, it’s a Team sport, these are team guys, Milledge and Lo Duca, not so much..getting fired up and thrown out of a game does no good for your team. Quietly coming through, that’s good for team.
Without comment about the merits of the trade, I have to say I laughed out loud reading this. How many times did people say that LoDuca was the only one who showed any passion? How many people predicted doom without LoDuca’s ability to get fired up? I’m not saying you ever said that, m00kie, but boy did I read a lot of that!!!!
I read a lot of that too, hence my remarks… To me the “fired up” thing has always been overrated and it’s always frustrated me when people value uncontrolled passion over focused execution.
wanna mention, I know it’s early to say how that trade looks, but I’ve liked it since the beginning..
Just from the normal doom and glooms. Most of us looked at the stats and realized that Loduca had as much to do with the failure of the team as anyone else. I also belive that there were chemistry issues last year and Church and Schnieder seem to be the utimate team players.
I have to admit I didn’t like the trade, only because of age and money. I believe Church is a fine player, though. I just thought they had Milledge (cheap and good) and Estrada, so why go get older and more expensive?
That being said, LoDuca was terrible last year, but the kind of terrible that looks good at first glance. I have no concerns about his departure whatsoever.
I just think that they valued defense and chemistry a lot more. Estrada was not that great defensively and had clubhouse issues before. Milledge, who may turn out to be a superstar was a me first player on a team with a lot of me’s.
I guess I just don’t put that much stock into chemistry and me-too kind of issues. Having never run a clubhouse, I obviously don’t know how important or unimportant that stuff really is.
In the short run, I don’t think the trade affects this team negatively. But in the long run I think it will. And when there is no solid view toward the future, a team gets itself in trouble. Couple that with this notion that you cannot “rebuild” in New York (because apparently the fans won’t stand for it) well, then you better hang on to your talented young ‘uns while you have solid veterans too, else you’ll find your entire team getting too old too fast and you become the San Francisco Giants.
It’s not like Church is old and expensive. I have been a baseball, basketball and football coach. I will say that chemistry in baseball and basketball is extremely important, football not so much.
Schneider is an anchor back there…it just feels different with him behind the plate.
Their defense might be the best I’ve seen on a Mets club – with Chavez in left and Church in right you’ve got speed and strong, accurate arms at all three outfield positions…then you have potential gold glove-caliber guys at all the infield positions except first. Throw in Johan there as well…
Well Pagan is starting right now but its not like he is a slouch either.
I remember reading over the winter that Omar approached Boras about a contract extension, but was rebuffed. I believe that is what led to the arbitration hearing in the first place. I’m sure the Mets, if given the chance, would have already signed Ollie to an extension.
This is a perfect example, where although a lot of us miss Nady, he certainly wasn’t given away for nothing. Ollie Perez is worth much more to this 2008 team than Nady could ever have been.
I am too lazy to look, how many pitches did Perez have last night?
93
So he prob. could have went 1 more inning but we had too many bullpen guys that needed work?
yeah probably would have gone another, but with the blowout there was no reason…Good to see Figueroa come in and pitch well fresh off the bus..Pedro and Wags looked good too..
I agree, I was just affraid that he was doing what he and Maine did last season. Pitching well with incredilby high pitch counts.
This is the stuff that drives me crazy. Looking ahead at the pitching matchups for the Atlanta series, I see that the Braves are skipping their fifth starter and pitching Hudson, Glavine, and Smoltz. However, the Mets ARE pitching their fifth starter in Pelfrey. Why does is always appear that the Braves are more amped up for these showdowns than the Mets? I realize that Pelfrey is going to have to get thrown into the fire here with the Pedro injury, but wouldn’t it be nice to win the first series against the Braves, to even potentially sweep them?
Either way I think Pelfrey should pitch this weekend. It’s just which day he should pitch. If we skipped the 5th starter like we should then Maine would pitch Friday, Santana Saturday and then it would be Pedro’s turn. Pelfrey slots in for Pedro and no 5th starter needed. Remember that Pelfrey right now is not the 5th starter he is technically number 4. I would leave Pelfrey in Pedro’s spot and go from there.
Besides Pelfrey’s best start was against the Braves. If you keep the rotation like I suggested, hopefully there won’t be much pressure on him because we would have won Maine and Santana’s starts.
last year the skip the 5th starter thing worked out not so well..and now down one, this really looks like the right decision to me..I think(hope) it does good for Pelf’s confidence to start out with the team and be there from Opening Day..
Pelfrey will pitch this weekend either way.
What difference does it make, really, if it goes Pelfrey Santana or Santana Pelfrey? At this point Smoltz is more dangerous than Glavine, so what rationale is there for bumping Santana up?
That said, I have a burning, albeit somewhat irrational, desire to DEVASTATE Glavine in our first match up, which would tend toward Santana. (Couldn’t help it.)
not to mention I’ve got tickets on sunday ;) That said, I hope we torch glavine too..
It does make a difference in that It allows us to pitch Santan vs. the Phillies too. I know its early but these game count twice. As I have said it would be his normal day to pitch, it’s not moving him up.
It is “moving him up” in the sense that it isn’t the day he’s been told he would pitch, though I think he is enough of a pro that it wouldn’t matter either way. Your point about having him pitch vs. Phillies is a good one. At this point I’m glad we aren’t seeing Figgy on Opening Day at Shea.
wolverine, who do you want to pitch? Are you even paying attention? Ollie pitched yesterday and our 3 next best pitchers are Santana, Maine, and Pelfrey and that is who is pitching.
get a clue.
Technically if the Mets go with a 5th starter (booo) then it would be Maine, Pelfrey, Figgy this weekend. That would be just too bad.
not true. They are going with the 5th starter this weekend and that is pelfrey.
You are right.
You know what….If Ollie stays healthy and pitches all season like he did last night, the Mets better anti up and pay the man.
He’s close to being one of the best pitchers in the league, and has great stuff…plus hes young. You do whatever you have to do to keep him here. Pitching wins….and he hasn’t hit his peak yet.
Good to see Perez pitch like that last night. Mets really need to keep him for 2009 if he continues to look like this. We’re gonna need to pay him as he deserves and keep him in this rotation especially with Pedro getting older heading into the new ballpark. I was also pleasantly surprised with Church. First couple games I thought he had a few balls he could have caught the he let drop…and then last night I though he had a play on that ball in the first but then came up with a gun and threw Hanley out. beautiful. I guess he knows what he’s doing and nice to see him on Offense too especially after everyone’s been “trippin” that he can’t produce. GO METS – a great first series. Lets keep winning the best of three like we used to.
With Ollie pitching well – in ST and against the Fish. And assuming he does well this year, racking up around 15 wins, do you think the Mets should/will resign him?
Personally, I’d like to see him in a Mets uniform. He’s relatively young. Solid #3 guy, with #2 potential. Couple him w/ Santana and Maine and that’s a great 3 pitcher rotation.
Then we can worry about filling in the other two spots.
I think the Mets should resign him at 4yrs, 45mil.
Thoughts?
That sounds about right, something like what Silva got. I know that Silva is no where near as good as Ollie but he hit the market at the right time. If I was Ollie I would not expect anything less. However, the Mets will prob. low ball him and offer something like 3/25 which will just not get it done.
I think with Boras as his agent they are going to look for a longer term. If the Mets could get him right now for that it would be sweet!
Of course this is on the heels of him pitching well. History shows that he does that for a couple of games and then has melt down. Then good for a couple of games and then another melt down. I sure hope he becomes more consistent with maturity. Especially this year.
I will take anything that gives us his production from last year. He had the same amount of wins with a lower ERA. It just seems for some reason that we put Maine light years ahead of Ollie.
Because Maine is better and doesn’t hit batters in to score during clutch games…instead he throws an almost no hitter in one of the most important games of the season.
They both suffer from melt-downs and control issues, but between the two Ollie seems more like the loose cannon and maine seems more in control. Plus, when Ollie does melt down its usually much worse. Maine will give up a home run or two and get pulled early, but Ollie will hit two batters and give up 2 or 3 home runs and walk in the rest…
But even if it was a long(er) term contract I, for one, wouldn’t mind it. I mean, Ollie isn’t THAT bad of a pitcher. I think Peterson has really turned him around and focused him.
If we were to pay him upwards of 4 or 5 yrs at 50 to 60 mil, I would be okay with that too. We’ve seen first hand that reliable pitching is hard to come by. So, if we have the money, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t spend it.
Besides, we’ll have a bit of extra cash with Pedro and Delgado coming off the books. Who, I think that neither should be resigned. If so, for a one year contact at a cheap cost.
Problem is Pedro, Elduque and Perez will be FA. That money has to be used wisely, especially if Pelfrey proves not to be an option.
A little off topic: What do you think of Wayne Hagin? In my opinion he is so dull and boring. He has no excitement whatsoever. Can’t believe the Mets hired this guy.
who?
the new play by play guy on wfan I believe
He’s alright. Not great, but not terrible. Let’s give him some time before we kill the guy though.
he’s fine. steady and sounds like an old-timer. he’s not a new yorker nor was he a met fan so he brings levity to the broadcasts. he offers a nice balance to howie.
If Perez were to resign now at the rate you posted, he’d be taking a risk. If he duplicates last year or has a better season (a distinct possibility), he’ll get more than that. 4/45 is like what Gil Meche got, and considering that was two years ago and that Perez is considerably better than Meche (and Meche is quite good, objectively speaking), he’ll get 13-17 mil/year.
I’d love to have him at that rate, but it’s not gonna happen.
Of course, if he takes a step back, he’ll probably still get 10 mil/year. So he’d really be crazy to take 4/45.
Off topic a bit, but is Matt really conducting a poll on Willie’s performance this year?
I mean, 3 games!! two of which were snoozers
i know NYC is a tough ride, but this is ridiculous
he said it would be reposted after each series .. series done, poll .. pretty simple.
This was addressed to NickA33 above…
There is not a lot of middle ground there, however.
Silva got what, around 12 a year? CC will get around 18 a year? I guess maybe Perez will want around 15?
If CC has another year like last year, he’ll get more than 20 mil per year. He’ll get close to Santana money. That pushes Ollie’s price up, as well as every other starting pitcher.
Understandable. But even if it were to jump to 5 yrs at 65 or 70, I think I would have to take it.
I mean, someone out there is going to pay that price for him. The question is, are the Mets willing to do that. I think with the team we have, the city we’re in the rotation we “could” have, it’s a must.
Thing is this year’s market is currently better than last years. CC, Sheets, Burnett……
Bannister shut out the tigers through 7 innings on that note LOL
Just what Wagner said two days ago. All we need is guys to step up and that’s something that Perez did last night. Are we going to pick up after pedro?
When its all said and done Pedro could end up the 4th best pitcher on this staff. As far as I was concerned going into the season John Maine was our #2.
Agreed. Going into opening day I did not hae great expectations for Pedro and viewed the rotation as follows:
1 – Santana
2 – Maine
3 – Perez
4 – Martinez
5 – Hernandez or Pelfrey
The problem is we still lost a big piece to puzzle. Hopefully he will return in good shape, but I sure didn’t like the way he pitched the other day. He looked very old, out of shape, and his arm slot looked much lower to me. Maybe I was just being too overly critical.
I sure miss Bannister, and will never understand that move. I listen to a bunch of people who are critical of Omar for many of his signings and moves, but that one is the one that got me. I just never understood back then, and it looks worse as time goes by. No sense bitching about it though. We have to deal with what we have. In other words “Go get em Fig”.