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Quote: Wagner has words for O’Perez

by Matthew Cerrone on May 1st, 2008 at 7:22 am

During yesterday’s loss to the Pirates, Oliver Perez allowed seven runs while walking five batters through 1.2 innings.

…the thing is, as i have cringed about before, the wheels just come off so fast…seriously, he looks fine, hits a bump in the road, like walking three of the first four batters in the second inning, and then he goes totally off the road – like committing an error on a potential inning-ending double play, then letting six more runs to score after that…

Perez, talking to reporters after the game:

Sometimes you don’t have your stuff and you have to find what you can do to get out of the innings…I had trouble throwing strikes.  Everybody can have a bad day…I’ve been good in the last few games and this is a time to find what you’re doing wrong, to get better, and try to go in the right direction…I think sometimes I’m trying to throw too hard…Tomorrow we’re off, and I can find what I’m doing wrong.”

…lovely…it’s in his head, now…and that can’t be good…

Billy Wagner, on Perez, while talking to reporters after yesterday’s loss, said:

“Perez, honestly, has got to step up and know we just used every guy in our bullpen the night before.  He can’t come out there and decide that he hasn’t got it today.”

In the New York Post, Bart Hubbach writes more about Wagner and Perez, adding: “Asked if talking to Perez about his notoriously short attention span was like trying to talk to a wall, Wagner pointed his finger and said: ‘Pretty much.’”

Perez later told reporters that he agrees with Wagner’s statements, adding:

“I have no problem with that.  I’ve got to do my job.”

In a report for SNY, Ted Berg writes, “Perez is immeasurably frustrating.”

According to Berg, Perez’s ERA is never an accurate way to measure the pitcher’s success or struggles, noting, thanks to errors, “Perez allowed 20 more batters to cross the plate than are accounted for in the 3.56 ERA he posted in 2007, and, with the five unearned runs he allowed on Wednesday, he’s well on his way to matching that number in 2008.”