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During last night’s loss to the Dodgers, Oliver Perez allowed five runs and three home runs in six innings pitched, while walking just two and striking out three.
Willie Randolph, on Perez, following the game:
“I thought his line was good. He kept us relatively in the game after a shaky a start and kind of settled in
a bit. But, you know, the gopher balls hurt him a bit…but, I thought he pitched pretty well, for the most part.”
…perez is the easy scapegoat for last night’s loss…however, he did fine through the first four innings, during which the Mets offense left five runners on base all while Dodgers RHP Chad Billingsley looked to be on the ropes – especially in the second…each time, the Mets bats let him off the hook…
…then perez let up two more home runs, and that was that, as the Mets never really threatened offensively from that point on…
Asked by a reporter if he is concerned that Perez has been unable to build up momentum, Randolph said:
“Well, again, it’s early as far as pitching is concerned. He’s in my rotation and will stay there until it’s deemed that we need to make a change. But, right now, he’s fine. He just needs to keep working. We’ll keep putting him out there until he gets more consistent.”
I would have expected Oliver to be a bit crisper. He usually come back strong after a horrific start.
It concerns me that he is so off.
His start against pittsburgh he was clearly off. His release was way off. And he could not correct himself (nor could the Jacket help him correct himself) in game. That is disturbing.
I really did not see last nights game, but three HRs is hefty. Seems like a slightly better game, but not what I would expect of Ollie.
His stuff can be the most explosive on the staff, yet he is unable to harness it consistently. I guess though that has always been the rap on him.
It was disturbing to see him hang a slider/ curve to Furcal, the first batter he faced, on a 0-2 count. Furcal looked lost against the two fastballs Ollie threw, but then Schneider (he who works well with the staff) called for an off speed pitch in the dirt. Ollie didn’t get it in the dirt, he left it out and up over the plate, and Furcal drilled it, with a terrible swing even. Hate seeing 0-2 counts wasted like that. How many hitters groover home runs on 0-2 counts??!! Bad pitch, and even bad call by Brian. I like being aggressive, but with Ollie struggling and needing a good first inning, I’d make Rafael beat me on my best pitch, and Ollie’s fastball had nice movement and good placement, at least in the four innings I watched.
Also, why didn’t Sandy send Beltran home on Delgado’s double??
…or on Beltran’s triple?
i think sandy has not been the same guy since AZ with the reyes incident. Im sure he got an earful in the dugout and thats why i guess hes not that risky anymore.
I don’t mind the Beltran “triple”…..Matt said he was being waved around, but Beltran stopped himself.
Plus, when you’re down 5-0….You can’t think of sending him if there is even the slightest chance of a play at the plate.
Down 2-0, however, with the bottom of the order up…..in the early innings, absolutely no reason there not to push matters and try scoring him.
Agreed, but here are a few reasons why he should have been sent:
1) Perhaps a nice spark for this team;
2) Man on 3rd, 0 outs is certainly no gimme for this team to score a run;
3) I would have gotten a few extra fantasy points.
I understand it wasn’t a big deal, but any kind of spark would be nice for this team. Especially to keep momentum rolling after a nice series in AZ.
lolll love #3
got a few nice points for yesterday
Well, they don’t really have much choice about rolling Ollie out there, do they? So what else could he say?
The bigger issue is the black hole at 2B. Now that Delgado has a pulse, it just leaves Schneider and Castillo as the weaker links. And if you decide to go with a defense-first C like Schneider, you can’t really also carry an offensive non-entity like Castillo.
And I don’t care what he did 3-4 years ago. Right now, he can’t hit well enough to start on a mnes over-30 sunday beer league team.
If the Mets had even a league average 2B production they would likely be in 1st place, even with their other problems.
And, they probably can’t fall too far behind the Phils, or they may never sniff first place again this year (if they get 5+ back).
And they decided to pitch to Castill with two outs, Delgado on second and Beltran on third, instead of walking him to the open first base, and facing the pticher in the second inning!! They knew from their scouts that Castillo was no threat there! Castillo also ended the inning in the fourth with runners on as well.
Through roughly 20% of the season now…the Mets are about the same team they were last year. They are kind of muddling about. Santana has been just a touch worse then expected but still an ace. Pedro going down has hurt the staff and Heilman and Perez have been just too off to build real momentum.
But does anyone else think the bats are the real problem here.
Reyes, Castillo, Beltran and to a lesser extent Delgado have been the problem. Just no offensive production from them…or at least to uneven.
Unless the bats warm up, we are destined to be a .500 team with 81 wins at the end of the year …give or take 3 wins or losses.
It is disturbing.
We need guys who can consistently get on base and then guys who consistently knock em in to win more regularly.
“We need guys who can consistently get on base and then guys who consistently knock em in to win more regularly.”
So where do you suggest we find those guys…as if they were out there for the taking.
Bottom line is our guys need to produce simply because they are the guys we have. History tells us Beltran will heat up and Alou will drive in runs too. Sooner or later Church will cool off and somebody’s gotta pick up the slack.
We have to assume any production we get out of Schneider and Castillo is a plus. I am happy with Schneider. Castillo is not the player he once was and he’s better off in the 9 hole. It is amazing how infrequently he gets the ball out of the infield.
On days that Santan plays, Castillo should bat ninth!
Cheif…I am not suggesting we get anyone. Who the hell can we get to improve offense mid season before the midway point of the season? No one!
I am merely stating what is obvious and at the same time releasing some of my disappointment about it. I see the same team as last year. I see tightness in rbi spots. I see poor approches to at bats by veterans. I see a scuffling Beltran at the moment and a completely lost Castillo. I see Reyes on and off, on and off. I see trouble.
Got no solution for you except possibly a change in the hitting coach or a change in the manager or possibly (least likely) a change in the players mentality
Unfortunately….this offense is just not as good as we thought even with Alou in the lineup
word from a buddy of mine who is a big Twins fan regarding Santana is that this is about what you can expect from him in the early going, and he really hasn’t been all that bad. He let up just one run -on a defensive miscue by Pagan- in his first loss, and left with a lead in his last two starts…but I digress. My friend was saying that its the second half in which we will see what he is really capable of, but I thing we all knew that already.
Pitching hasn’t been the problem this year, it’s been the Mets hitting, especially with RISP. Last night Perez had a poor first inning, but kept the Mets in the game. It was the kind of game that Billy Wagner had talked about last week. You got the sense that if the Mets bats had been alive that Perez would not have given up those homers in the 5th. When it’s a 2-0 game and the offense has done very little you try to be too fine and that’s when you press a bit and miss your spots. I think that happened to Perez last night. The Pierre 2 out walk that inning was a bit indicative of that as well.
I dont know about “not” giving up those homers…It was in the 5th innning..usually when the wheels start to come off. But yes i agree hitting with RISP was brutal to watch. The top of the order was not getting on with consistancy while the middle of the lineup was getting on base(go figure). It left castillo to drive those runs in which we all know cas is not an RBI guy. Guess in this game it backfired having castillo in the 8 hole. Hopefully it wont be the case today
The man is a thrower, not a pitcher. There is a difference. He throws to spots and hopes he comes close. Its that great stuff that gets him by, but in no way does he hit spots. When was the last time you seen him throw a fastball and the catcher didnt have to move his glove? Maybe once a game? He just rears back and lets it loose, which is why he walks so many and throws those fat pitches. His better games are the ones where he gets away with it. I think Peterson is getting tired of hitting his head against the wall and Perez is making me believe that last year for him was a career year.
David Wright should have 40RBI by now.
in “I hit EVERY time with RISP” world…
the guy is allowed to fail once in a while bro..overall, hes great overall and compared to his April last year..this was awesome
he’s batting .244 with RISP…that is not good.
Of all the guys to get on this season…you pencil in David Wright who appears to be one of the only guys ( along with Church) who can drive in runs at the moment? Why not pick on Castillo, and Reyes for not being more consistently on base? Why not pick on Beltran for not starting his season yet now in its 6th week? Why not….ahh forget it. I am frustrated too. Nobody is hitting enough for my liking at the moment actually
He started off poorly last year and ended up hitting .310 with RISP by the end of the season. Give him some time.
Hitting has been the problem…even though Ollie gave up 5, that is good enough to keep you in the game…we just didn’t hit.
Turn the page and win tonight.
The hitting stinks and thus our pitchers need to be pretty much near perfect every time out. and right now it feels like every time Perez or Pelfrey take the mound, the Mets are going to lose.
Throw in an occasion loss from Figgy or Maine or the bullpen, and you have yourself no better than a .500 ballclub.
Why is everyone so negative? We are tied for First Place in the loss column with the Phillies and the Marlins!
What do you guys think about dangling Perez at the trading deadline and seeing what teams would be willing to offer for him? Maybe some team would give up a nice haul out of desperation. I dont see anyway the Mets resign him next year with Boras out for blood so maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad route to explore.
That assumes the Mets are out of the race on July 31.
Or they have other SPs lined up (say, Pedro) and feel that they have enough without him, but have other holes to fill.
The guy gave up 3 homers and Willie thinks he pitched OK. Do we need any more evidence that Willie isn’t too bright?
well last time he gave up 7runs and lasted 1 2/3 innings …so compaired to that yea he pitched ok.
I can’t listen to willie anymore. He just spews the same garbage and never criticizes “his guys”. How can he possibly say perez pitched ok tonight? It is becoming more and more evident that willie is a loser. I can only imagine if the players listen to him anymore. I don’t think they have respect for him and I doubt they listen to anything he has to say…..Willie needs to go soon…
What would you consider pitching “OK”
The mets left i believe 7 men on base. Our bats were not working last night. Compaired to his last start he pitched better. We are going against the Dodgers bro. That lineup is stacked and they are all hitting extremly well.
I will almost never defend Willie, and I’m not sure if this is really defending him anyway. But he’s been very critical of Perez. If you want to say that there are players Willie will never be critical of, that’s completely true. Perez just isn’t one of them.
Yeah, I thought Willie was raked over for criticizing Perez the last time.
Only the Mets would let loser Willie stay after last years disaster. Its clear the players have tuned him out long ago and sadly our esteemed GM and owner are the last to see it.
And you, who is nowhere near the dugout, the clubhouse, or anywhere else the players hang out at, know for certain that the players dont like Willie and dont listen to him?
Yeah well in the context of the game last night he didn’t pitch all that badly. He kept the team in the game. The Mets should have scratched out atleast a run in the second, and atleast another in the fifth. That would have taken some pressure of Perez. The Mets need to start hitting.
And it’s obvious that Beltran’s legs are not right. He has no drive on the ball. He occasionally is hitting the ball hard, but mostly he is producing weak outs.
While the results were not favorable to the mets in this game…OP did go into the 6th inning in this one so thats a positive. Sosa and Show did a good job in their respective innings of work. Listen we all knew what we were going to get from this guy. We have just been a little spoiled because we saw like they say “flashes of brilliance”. Hopefully he can learn to keep the team in it long enough for us to fight back or keep a lead. I dont expect OP to dominate anyone but at least give us a shot. Remember also guys these arent the nats or marlins, this squads offense is one of the best in the NL.
For a guy who will want the kind of money he will want in the off season I want him to dominate teams. If he doesn’t thats ok, just don’t bring your $15 million a year demands to the table until you screw your head on and dominate some teams. The flashes of brilliance aren’t there enough for me.
Well hes not making a case for 15 mill a year thats for sure.
I’ve said this before, only a week or two ago . . . We see the Ollie of the 15 wins last year. We see the Ollie of the 10 losses last year. We see both of them, often from one pitch to the next, in the same at-bat. Obviously, staying consistant from one pitch to the next is his main problem–and it will keep him from getting big money in his next contract.
And to think that we were going to go into the season with a O.P. and Maine as the bulwarks of our rotation. Maine has been solid but O.P…………well, the proof is in the pudding. Maybe we can put him on Aderole.
I’m not sure if anyone else has mentioned this above, but I saw a big difference between how Ollie pitched against the Pirates and how he pitched last night. After not being able to find the strike zone, he overcompensated and left everything in the middle of the plate. So instead of walking everyone, he got blasted (and almost got a line drive wedged in his abdomen).
The bright side is that he did adjust; the bad side is that it made no difference.
Gee, you think Perez is an easy scapegoat? Three HRs allowed in 6 innings. If he doesn’t allow a two-out HR to Kemp in the 5th, it’s a 3-1 game, which is a much easier hill to climb than a 4-run deficit. The notion that he “did fine” through 4 innings and then lost his way is a ridiculous and incomplete assessment of Perez’s performance. The bottom line is that allowing 5 earned runs in six innings is a terrible perfomance. I’m tired of Willie’s (and others’) excuses and give-him-the-benefit-of-the-doubt explanations. Perez has been awful and his poor performances are causing the team to lose games.