This Just In...

...Jacob deGrom is good. Did I say that before, because it's true. But in order to find that out, the Mets needed to slog their way through the weekend to get to his turn in the rotation.

The Mets usually find a good deal of success when the visit Arizona, however this weekend appeared headed down a rather miserable path. Though they won on Thursday night, when Matt Harvey got pissed off and inspired his teammates to fight back, the subsequent starting pitchers failed to provide similar impetus. Jon Niese took the mound on Friday night, and, let's face it, Jon Niese hasn't been inspiring anybody to do anything except track the latest outing by Steven Matz in AAA ball. Niese took the loss, which isn't anything new, in an effort where he allowed 3 runs and 6 hits with 8 strikeouts over 6 innings, and somehow this outing was deemed a success. That's a good indicator of how badly things have been going for Niese lately. All confidence in him has been abandoned, which is kind of sad because we all know he can do so much better.

Niese would have been wise this weekend to take a look in the opposing dugout, because he'd see a left-handed pitcher with a similarly high level of talent, and a very similar lack of mental ability, and perhaps he might learn the cautionary tale. Particularly since that left-handed pitcher used to be his teammate, your friend and mine, Oliver Perez. Amazingly, after all the headache Ollie caused the Mets and the general embarrassment he caused himself, someone was still willing to give him a job because he's left-handed and has some life in his arm, even though at this point he's a total caricature on the mound. Nobody could wean him out of the weird, bad habits he'd develop, so at this point it was determined the safest place for him was to come out of the bullpen and face left-handed hitters and hope for the best. And if Jon Niese doesn't get his act together, a similar fate will likely befall him.

Saturday, Bartolo Colon was handed a similar fate, though not because he's an idiot like Niese. Colon just fell victim to some bad luck, in the form of his offense not scoring any runs for him (surprise, surprise), and an errant pitch to Welington Castillo that sunk him. Colon is a caricature in and of himself, probably because he not only continues to succeed on the mound, but also because he continues to surprisingly get hits, as he pinged out his 4th of the season. Nonetheless, this and 9 other Mets hits were not enough to offset his one bad pitch, and thus the Mets lost a San Diego Special, 2-1.

So, it came down to Sunday, with Jacob deGrom on the mound to try to salvage the series and, for that matter, the road trip. deGrom found himself helped out early by Curtis Granderson, not helped out, and then helped out by Eric Campbell, and helped out some more by Wilmer Flores, but mostly he did the job himself. After Campbell's miserable error opened the door for Arizona in the 1st, deGrom settled down and delivered a pitching performance about as crucial as Harvey's was three days prior. His 7 inning effort was enough to put the Mets in position to win the series finale 6-3 and save the team from a completely disastrous 2-5 road trip, instead bringing the team back home with a partially passable 3-4 road trip. Actually, 3-4 isn't terrible considering they were on the West Coast, where they play games in the middle of the night and generally things just tend to go haywire for them. To put things in an even better perspective, the Mets come home from the West Coast in 1st place, if you can believe it, because for as much as the Mets have scuffled, Washington can't get out of their own way either.

For a season where they've had to battle a 2009-level number of injuries to key players, the fact that they've managed to keep themselves near the top of the standings to this point is a bit of a moral victory. But, then, how long can they keep this up...and when the hell will some of these injured players start to come back?

Blame Everyone Else!

Since Oliver Perez was all too eager to blame the unseasonably cool, windy weather for his putrid performance yesterday, I guess we should just take it easy on him, rather than lambasting him for once again stepping on the mound and vomiting out another gutless performance against the Giants.

It wasn't his fault, really. The Mets came back and had a late lead and Jennry Mejia gave up that late HR to Rowand that would ultimately sink the Mets. I mean, that was the first HR Mejia had allowed all season, and into the teeth of a howling wind that echoed all over NYC. So you know it was probably really tagged.

I mean, let's just cut poor Ollie some slack here. It's difficult for a guy who's been in the Major Leagues since 2002 to prepare himself in such harsh conditions. We should be fortunate that he was able to get 44 of his 98 pitches over for strikes on a day like this. How many of us woke up, felt that cold permeating through our apartments and didn't even want to get out of bed? Let's give Ollie some credit for his stick-to-it-iveness and his guts and guile in taking the ball and giving us his all.

Let's blame David Wright, who struck out 4 times, and then petulantly whined and screamed to the umpire after his last strikeout. I mean, who does he think he is? How dare you question the umpire's judgment. He's had a tough enough day standing around while poor Ollie struggled to find the plate.

For that matter, let's blame the rest of the Mets offense for fighting back from the hole that Ollie had put them in after his courageous performance. I mean, if Ollie gave it his best and walked 10 guys in 3+ innings, how can the Mets offense then show him up by getting some hits and scoring some runs to take him off the hook, and deprive him of that loss that he so richly deserved. I mean, he worked particularly hard for that loss, and now all he has to show for it is a measly no decision.

Perhaps, in the future, we'll take it easier on Oliver Perez. I mean, it's a tough game, and he's a tough guy. It's hard to throw strikes.

Portrait of an Idiot

This is #1 of 5 Key Mets Players for the 2010 season.

What, you're surprised?

It seems like every season we go through this ridiculous speculation about Oliver Perez and which one will show up. You could try the every other year argument, except that Perez blew that out of the water with a beyond putrid 2009 season that began with him getting shelled and lambasted by me, and ended with him on the DL, where he might have done the Mets a greater good.

2006, 2007, 2008, whatever. It's more like an every 3-year thing with Perez, when he goes out and somehow is focused and hits his spots and the numbers fall into place for him. Then, we start to believe that he's somehow worthy of the praise that's heaped upon him.

Of course, he usually goes out and runs a 7-11, 4.86 season to follow it up.

I said it last year and I'll say it again here: Oliver Perez is a loser. And he's the worst kind of loser, because he's a loser with talent. He has a fine array of pitches, but no real head for when or how to use them, and what ends up happening is he just rears back and throws, and when that happens, he usually ends up missing with all his breaking pitches, and relies on his fastball. And when you see Oliver Perez's fastball 2-3 times per at bat, eventually, you'll be able to get around on it. And most Major League hitters have.

Oliver Perez is like the Elephant in the Room for the 2010 Mets. There's a lot of pressure to succeed being placed on a guy who amounts to a giant question mark. Moreso than anyone else, they're stuck in a position where they have to use him. There's no particularly suitable replacement to be found, or at least not one who's any more or less trustworthy (Nelson Figueroa, anyone?) The reports are solid, at least from what you've heard. He's worked hard to stay in shape and keep focused and consistent on the field. The result, through one spring start against the Nationals, however, was not encouraging. Only the Mets could somehow seem to find a silver lining. Sure, Perez got lit up for 5 runs and 7 hits in 2+ innings, but, hey, he sure looked good out there!

I'd like to see that line fly in late April when Ollie gets lit up by the Dodgers.

At some point, this charade is going to have to end. I'm not sure why there aren't more people putting more heat on Perez, because, again, the Mets are placing a large share of their chances for success on him. And I'm not at all confident in their ability to survive if he's the Ollie of any other year that isn't 2007. If you needed to feel any less confident, there's the little nugget I heard on Sunday while listening to Ollie's start on WFAN. It was either Howie Rose or Wayne Hagin talking, but one of them mentioned that even Scott Boras had yelled at Perez over his performance last season. When your agent, especially someone as client-driven as Boras, is riding you, you know you need to step it up.

I mentioned to El Guapo last week that someone out of these 3 middle of the rotation guys has to come through this season. Someone has to come through, because if they don't, the entire season may as well be flushed down the toilet. I keep saying it, and I think I may be repeating myself a lot this season, because there's no safety net. The 2010 Mets basically hinge on the performance of these 3 pitchers, and we all know who they are, and they all have their own issues, be they injury or head-related, and Oliver Perez is front and center on that list. Be a man, come through, show your talent, then the Mets do well. Be the same loser we saw over and over again, and we're in for another long season.

Losers

Well, it's official. The Mets will not be going 162-0 this season.

All kidding aside, the Mets first loss of the season unveiled what will more than likely be one of the most confounding and frustrating storyline of the new season.

That would be the curious case of Oliver Perez.

Certainly, after two-plus seasons of watching Oliver Perez do his thing for the Mets, we know by now that we just won't ever know what the hell to expect out of him. He's good, he's bad, he's up, he's down, who the hell knows. But basically, You can sum Oliver Perez up in one sentence: Oliver Perez is a Loser.

Harsh, perhaps. But it's basically true. Oliver Perez is really the worst kind of loser. He's a loser with talent. He's got the talent to tantalize, but ultimately disappoint. He comes up big in games when it's needed most, but, almost always, he comes up frustratingly small in games he should be eating his opponents alive. It's to the point where you really have to question whether or not re-signing Perez last winter was really the smartest idea. True, there weren't any other options, and true, the Mets needed to bring someone in who could give some sort of veteran stability in the middle of the rotation. But we basically know what we're getting with Perez, and that is to say that we know that we can't ever be too sure which Oliver Perez is going to show up. He could throw 7 shutout innings. He could give up 6 runs in 3 innings with 6 walks. Neither one would be a surprise. Sometimes, he's inconsistent within his own games. Thursday's game was such a perfect example of this. Through two innings, you couldn't not be encouraged. He was mixing pitches, spotting everything perfectly and keeping the Reds off balance. Then, he gets a 3-run lead, and he goes and gives it back before the paint even dried. The Mets tie the game, and he goes and buries them the following inning. And he was getting killed by lefty Joey Votto, who, if you read his splits, is someone he should be getting out.

The larger problem exists when you consider the fact that the Mets are counting on Perez to be a major part of their rotation. It's beyond the point where you could truly call him a Key Player. I didn't name him as one of the 5 for this season because there's nothing key about him. You know that he's going to be a basket case, and this isn't going to change. The question, then, becomes why consider him to be a big part of the starting rotation when you know that it's more or less a lock that he's going to shit the bed a good 40% of the time?

I'm sure, when he goes out against Philly or Atlanta and gives up 2 runs on 5 hits in 8 innings, I'll recant all of this and say that Perez is wonderful and we're lucky to have him, but in reality, it just underscores my point. Oliver Perez is a talented pitcher, a solid competitor, and he just seems like an eminently likable guy. More than anything else, I think most people wanted the Mets to re-sign him because they like him. He gets along great with his teammates, all that good stuff. But I don't see how a team that has Championship aspirations can survive knowing that every so often their #3 starter is going to get up on the wrong side of the bed and not be able to sweat his way through 5 innings.

I'd like to say I don't know, and it remains to be seen, and maybe he can be coached up, but I think by now we all know the answer. The answer is we're just never going to know which version of this guy is going to show up on any given day. And it's frustrating the hell out of me.

As We Return...

And thusly, though the scenery may change, things remain the same with the Mets.

The re-signing of Oliver Perez probably signals a few different things.

1) The Mets are more or less sated with the starting pitchers they will bring to the table this season.

2) Given the injury history of Ben Sheets and the age & injury history of Randy Wolf, Perez, at 27 and without any major injury problems, was probably the best option.

3) There is a secret hope that Oliver Perez will somehow turn into the 2007 Oliver Perez every time out.

4) Whatever is left to do with the 2009 Mets, will happen to the offense.

It's not the time, right now, to continue to harp on Manny Ramirez, though rest assured I will probably continue to do so at some point in the near future. But if the Mets are done with Free Agents and trades, then they look to be content to return to the table with what amounts to mostly the same team, plus a few better relief pitchers. The starting rotation, from 1 to 4, is exactly the same. But it will continue to elicit questions about how many innings they will be able to eat. We know what Santana can do, and even off knee surgery, I think we'd all be hard-pressed to find a tangible reason that he wouldn't be as good as last season. Mike Pelfrey made The Leap last season, now it's up to him to continue forward. But if you buy into the whole innings count argument, he may not. But I'm not so concerned. It's not like Pelfrey is a slight kid with a violent delivery home. Pelfrey is a 6'7" horse with a fluid move to the plate. I'm not so concerned. Or at least, not so concerned about him as I am about 3 and 4, John Maine and Oliver Perez. I think Maine will bounce back from the bone spur problem, that's one thing. But as Jason at Faith and Fear calls it, Maine has a major case of "Leiteritis," that is, inability to put away batters with 2 strikes.

Then, there's Ollie.

Not much needs to be said.

Basically, this could be another taxing season for the bullpen if the starters can't solve their own questions. It's not something that inspires a lot of confidence in the Mets fan. Particularly if, on the other side of the ball, the offense is going to peck and scrape and claw inconsistently throughout the season. This team as it stands won't get picked by anyone to win anything. I think it's silly for Omar & the Boy-King to stand pat when everyone around him seems to know this. There's no confidence for the Mets fan right now. If these guys want us to be a little more confident, I think the answer is abundantly clear.

His name is Manny Ramirez.

(OK, so I mentioned him. It's all going to come back to him in some way, shape or form as long as he's still out there.)

One More Time for Oliver's Army

It was an intense, restless night for me last night, waiting for today to come around. I'm getting ready to head out to Shea now, but to witness what?

The setting is frighteningly similar to the one I set out to for Game 162 one year ago. That didn't exactly end well. The opponent is the same. The playoff scenario is the same. The sense of urgency is the same. The sellout crowd will be the same. Many of the names are the same, but one difference is today's starting pitcher for the Mets, where the only similarity is that he's another lefty pitcher.

Following Johan Santana's start on three-days' rest, Oliver Perez heads to the mound on short rest to close out the season, with a shot to send the Mets on, be it to a one-game playoff or to the NLDS.

Are you as nervous as I am? Oliver Perez has been, well, Oliver Perez all season long. Slow start, hot middle, up and down at the end. Three days after a pretty bad start against the Cubs, where, after being handed a big lead, he couldn't hold it and the Mets eventually got themselves into a battle they couldn't win.

And, yet, I keep thinking about the last time Oliver Perez was asked to take the mound on three days' rest.

We remember this night well. October 19, 2006.

Oh, we didn't think much of Perez then. He was middling when he pitched on October 15th, but backed by an offensive explosion, he was able to minimize the damage against him and gave up most of his runs when the game was already out of reach. But, oh, how he pitched on that wet Thursday night. He navigated his way through the Cardinals lineup, kept them off the bases, kept his team in the game. He was aided by a magical, memorable play that overshadowed the effort he gave that night, but you can't forget the job Perez did in the spotlight.

Since that time, it's been...interesting.

Oliver Perez has been known to look like an ace one night and a journeyman the next. There's no consistency or rhythm to the way he pitches. When he's on, he can dominate, and there have been several instances where he's done just that this season. Then, he can turn right around and throw up a stinker the next time out.

I guess that's what makes us so nervous. Perez does have a solid record against today's opponent this season. He also has a strong track record in big games. That's all fine and good, but it's really no guarantee as to which Oliver Perez will show up today.

You also have to consider the magnitude of the situation, and how he's going to respond.

Today's game is no ordinary game. Today, if things don't go well, is Goodbye. Today, if it works out, could be a party of the highest order. Today is history coming together with the present one final time in Shea Stadium.

I'll be there. It'll be my 264th Regular Season game and my 269th overall. I knew this day was coming for some time, and I hoped that somehow it might be a day to sit back and reflect, but that's not going to happen. Last year, I wrote that I showed up at a rocking House Party and left a Morgue. Today, I'll be showing up to that same House Party. I'm afraid I might be leaving a morgue. The postgame ceremony might not be so much fun. But if Oliver Perez comes through, if the Mets bats can wake up and knock around sweaty, drunken Scott Olsen like they should, if they can erase the ghosts and the tension from last season, and if they can do what's required of them to win the damn ballgame, then, we'll party. Shea will rock, and it won't be for the last time.

What the Hell, Oliver!?

Despite the fact that Oliver Perez had left for San Francisco before the rest of his team, allowing him to get a little more sleep before taking the field on Monday Night against the woeful Giants, it was Oliver Perez who was the first, last and only reason the Mets managed to come undone. I got home a little late, but when I turned the game on, there was Claudio Vargas on the mound pitching to Randy Winn. Had I missed something? Was Perez scratched?

Then I looked at the score. Oh. Perez wasn't scratched. He was just TERRIBLE!

I suppose the rest of the Mets could somehow be blamed, on some level, for not cashing in on a few opportunities the Giants gave them over the course of the game, but, in reality, it's just not very often that teams, even good teams, come back from 0-6 deficits after 1 inning. Perez dug them the hole in by far and away his poorest outing as a Met, and the shortest outing of his career, and the Mets just couldn't climb out of it. Sunday Night hangover or not.

A word about the Sunday Night game. Over at Faith and Fear, Greg wrote a long post reviling Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN, Joe Morgan and the fact that Sunday's game had been moved to accommodate it. Many readers commented in agreement. I do agree with Greg, to a point. There's a reason I call the Sunday Night game "The Biggest Game In The Galaxy," and it's not out of kindness. These national broadcasts have an overblown, overhyped feel to them that's a little un-necessary, and I've also felt that the announcers (Miller is good, but other announcers, say, Joe Buck or anyone on FOX) purposely dumb themselves down to make the game and a lot of what happens during the game more accessible to the casual fan. Morgan was booed heavily at Shea on Sunday night, and deservedly so. I'd like to think, however, that it has less to do with the fact that he's incredibly crotchety and more because he really hates the Mets after his years with the Reds and the fallout from the NLCS in 1973.

Then, there's the game itself. I'm on the side of the fence that actually liked being able to go to a game on a Sunday night. It's easier for me to say this now, as someone who generally goes to games either by myself or with friends, and never with small children. I'd say that easily 95% of the games I attend during any given season are night games, and almost all of them weekday night games. I only go to certain day games, Opening Day for one, and the last game of the season should it be a day game, and I almost never, ever go to games on the weekend (this is mainly due to the rigors of my daily schedule). And I also understand how switching Sunday's game to a night game inconvenienced a lot of people, and kids who had planned to run the bases after the game, etc, etc, etc. But I benefited from the time change. I had really wanted to go to one of the games against LA. In fact, outside of Game 1 of the NLDS in '06, I hadn't been to a Mets-Dodgers game since 1999, my longest such streak without seeing one NL team. But because of my own schedule, I probably wasn't going to get to one this year, either. Until they switched Sunday's game to a night game. Then, I was able to go, buy my ticket at Shea and enjoy Johan mow the Dodgers down.

It's quite possible that I was the only one who actually saw the good side in switching Sunday's game to a night game. I also didn't have to sit home and listen to Miller and Morgan and the flashy graphics on TV (in eye-popping ESPN-HD). I suppose, looking at the larger picture, the spectacle isn't worth the headache it causes. But I'm not wholly against Sunday Night Baseball. I have tickets for the Sunday game against the Yankees, and I was kind of put out that that game wasn't moved to a night game. The final game the Mets play before the All-Star Break is a Sunday Night game vs. Colorado, and I'd like to attend that game as well...

...So long as Oliver Perez isn't starting.

Here We Go Again...

And it took Oliver Perez all of 3 pitches to undo the good vibes I was trying to bring in here. Every start it's something else with him. If it's not the walks, it's the HRs. And playing from behind, the Mets offense basically went back into their little shell, where they didn't make much of a peep until the game was, for them at least, out of reach.

I know the Dodgers are hot right now, and I know that the Joe Torre Minutiae has spread throughout that locker room, but how are the Dodgers, the Sad Dodgers any different from the Mets, at least as far as the makeup of their clubs? Yet the Mets pretty much lay down and died last night, to the point where it wasn't even worth it for me to hear the end of the game. I was asleep by the time it was over, and yet I felt I wasn't really missing anything. This is not a good sign. And at least one person (whom was mentioned last week) seems to be pretty certain where the finger needs to be pointed...

A Delicate Balance

I've been mostly absent this week for various reasons, and I haven't actually seen any of this week's games. I did have a chance to turn on the Mets game on the radio yesterday afternoon, however by then it was already the 3rd inning and the game was completely out of hand.

It took me a few minutes to realize that Nelson Figueroa hadn't actually started the game.

The disturbing trend du jour with the Mets now is the failure of Oliver Perez to build on his success of last season and continue to drive his career forward.

My completely insane co-worker (who insisted I refer to him as such) called following the game screaming that the Mets should deal Oliver Perez and Omar Minaya to Pittsburgh for Xavier Nady. He then wondered if it was possible to make an awful team even worse. He figured that Minaya ought to be able to screw up the Pirates even moreso than they already are.

Other people laugh these bad outings off and say that Ollie is bound to throw up a stinker every so often.

This is now 4 in a row, and 3 out of 4 where he's just lost it completely without any real warning.

The truth lies somewhere in between. Perez at least seems somewhat cognisant of his responsibility to the club, and at least he's figured out that outings like yesterday, and the one against Milwaukee, and the one in Washington really aren't acceptable anymore. He already had his one shot at a major breakout in 2005, and he did a pretty good job of unraveling to the point where he was in the Minor leagues in 2006. Wagner called him out after yesterday's game, and from what I'm able to glean from this article, Perez did accept it. We know he's inconsistent, but it's beginning to get to the point where it's more than just hoping he's got the right arm slot tonight. We're starting to get to the point where it may be time to admit that Perez is just not that good, and that those two good seasons he's had were more flukish instances of him being able to put a solid string of starts together rather than the true talent bubbling to the surface. Pitchers like Steve Trachsel and Willie Blair managed to parlay seasons like this into millions of dollars.

It's not as though Perez is working with an ERA over 6. His numbers aren't totally horrible. But last year, there were points where he was absolutely the guy you wanted on the mound in a big game. He's not inspiring that confidence in anyone this season.

Harbinger?

If we learned anything from last year, it's that you can't really take anything away from the first few games of the season.

But it's nice to see encouraging signs.

Wednesday morning, I got a call from my somewhat-legendary co-worker. I had thought he was calling regarding something work related. Instead, he was calling with a 10-minute diatribe on how Carlos Delgado is done, and we need to bring in someone immediately to replace him. His suggestions ranged from somewhat logical to completely ridiculous, and involved Shawn Green, Tony Clark and Doug Mientkiewicz.

I'm not at all convinced that Delgado will have a bounce back year this year, and I don't find the early results as encouraging as others might. But let's give it a month, perhaps, rather than two games before we throw him under the bus.

My co-worker basically said what I'd felt about Tuesday's game: It was like watching a Mets Classic of a 2007 game. I didn't like the results then and I don't like them now. After their comeback, the Mets went in the tank against a Marlins team that they went out and thoroughly pummeled last night.

Go figure.

Clearly, the Mets are going to play somewhere in between as well as they looked on Monday and Wednesday, and as bad as they looked on Tuesday. I can only hope, for sanity's sake, that they at least try to do so with some consistency. One of the more frustrating things that happened last season was a lack of consistency, be it good or bad. It prevented the glaring problems with the Mets (situational hitting, bullpen, Delgado) from being noticed or addressed because, hey, the Mets were still winning games, still in 1st place, until they weren't.

Point is, yes, I'll always take a 13-run output, 6 shutout innings from Ollie, a dominant Santana, etc, etc. But if you can do it, please do try to keep doing it over and over, rather than coming back and vomiting up a 6-walk outing, or a 3-2 loss.

Encouraging signs, yes, before we finish.

Brian Schneider seems to have been in complete control with this pitching staff so far. I love the way he's been calling games and every pitcher I've seen appears to be comfortable throwing to him. In particular, Perez last night really got into a good groove, spotting his pitches well and putting them where they needed to be. He's also been contributing at the plate, which is a nice bonus.

Ryan Church continues to hit well against the Marlins lefties. After coming up with a key assist in the 1st inning last night, Church followed with his, and the Mets 1st Home Run of the season, a laser beam into the RF corner. He did this on Monday and on Tuesday as well. Perhaps he is worthy of playing on an every day basis. So far, that's certainly been the case.

Angel Pagan - Who knew?!

Beltran and Wright are simply destroying the ball right now, straight out of the gate. Last season, it took Wright until May 1 before he hit his 1st HR, and he was struggling and even being booed at home. And he made a concerted effort to get himself in better shape and better playing condition so that it wouldn't happen again this year. Whatever he's done, it's worked, since he's bolted from the gate like a house afire, hitting what should have been his 1st HR off the top of the Teal Tower, and then two innings later dispelling the drama of what might have been by simply rocketing the ball over it for his elusive 1st HR at Dolphins Stadium and of 2008.

Friday, John Maine and a start that seems to be getting an awful lot of attention.

Shut Up, Tim McCarver

It's no secret that Tim McCarver is an annoying blowhard who has somehow managed to make a career out of pontificating and hammering the most obvious facts into our heads over and over again until we're ready to scream. It was bad enough that we were subjected to him all afternoon Saturday on the FOX telecast, alongside Chaz Bonnifusco or whatever the name of the guy announcing was. I rarely watch games on TV, for what it's worth, but it being Saturday, Yom Kippur afternoon and me being home, and the game being of paramount importance. I put the game on. I'm usually pretty good at shutting the announcers out when I have to, but it seemed like McCarver was all too giddy to remind us about the struggles of the Mets bullpen, and how poorly they've played over the past 10 days. He only managed to make mention of this about once every half inning. But by the 9th inning, I was a little surprised he didn't wave an Aaron Heilman voodoo doll in front of the cameras. He did everything short of scream out loud, "THE METS BULLPEN MIGHT BLOW IT! THE METS BULLPEN MIGHT BLOW IT!" and really did nothing except make all of us crazy for 15 minutes despite the fact that Heilman ran into a minor annoyance in the 9th, working with a 6-run lead.

Tim, we all know the story. We've been watching the last week or so. We don't need to be reminded about it over and over again, while we're trying to enjoy our first easy victory in over a week. Do us all a favor and SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Now that I'm done pontificating (and tearing my hair out at the Nationals for essentially handing the Phillies another victory), yes, we're all back in from the ledge for the moment, after the Mets have finally been able to wake up and string together two good, solid victories over the leaky Marlins and their hideous team defense. Rather than folding their tents and declaring themselves all cursed following the meltdown in Miami on Thurdsay night, the Mets grew some balls, caught some breaks and did what they were supposed to do: Beat the Lousy Team. And then do the same thing the next day.

It's always helpful when the Mets are finally able to catch a few breaks. Friday night was a prime example of the Mets finally catching these breaks and cashing in on them. After 2 innings, we were all ready to jump off of the ledge. Down 3-0, Pedro looking bad, Marlins getting dink hit after dink hit, and running around blowing their kazoos. But then, suddenly, they were the ones looking like the inexperienced last-place team. Miguel Cabrera, all world at the plate, showed us his set of stone hands, and Mike Jacobs, former farmhand, flashed us his pair as well, as the Mets very quickly tied the game. Then it was Pedro, getting himself into a bases loaded jam, and then just as quickly getting himself out of it, in typical Pedro style, mixing his pitches, throwing from different arm angles and thoroughly baffling Cody Ross, then just curveballing Olivio to death for the 3rd out.

And just when it looked like the Marlins were going to get out of their own jam, it was Scott Olsen, the sometimes drunken, sometimes surly, usually frustrated malcontent pitcher, sweating like a punctured waterbed (one of the moments I would have not wanted to see in Eye-Popping HD), walking Reyes, failing to throw a 3rd strike to Wright, throwing a tantrum on the mound, and then giving up a 2-run single to Beltran to incinerate the game entirely. Again, his defense didn't help him, but when a pitcher can get rattled like that, it becomes increasingly easier to jump on him, and the Mets did that, just when they needed it most.

Then came the scare (Beltran's frightening landing on Hermida's drive in the 5th), the rain (pushing the game later and later into the evening) and the rest of the game ending up being mostly uneventful if you look at it on paper, and completely and totally hair-raising if you stayed up for it. First, it was Mota, coming in after the delay, much to the dismay of us all, and miraculously tossing 2 shutout innings, allowing 1 hit. Then, it was Feliciano, usually reliable, giving up 2 runs in the 8th. And then, Scott Schoeneweis. Scott Schoeneweis! Schoeneweis, who, unlike fellow Semite Shawn Green did not elect to take Yom Kippur off, pulled the double-miracle, coming in, striking out Hermida to end the 8th, and then going 1-2-3 in the 9th, with 2 more strikeouts and picking up the save.

Scott Schoeneweis picked up a Save! When did you ever think something like that would happen?!

So, with all the good vibes flowing through the clubhouse as the game ended around 1AM Saturday Morning, even the Philly victory couldn't bring us down. But the real question was could they keep it up. With Perez pitching on Saturday, the question was once again raised, as it always is when Oliver Perez goes to the mound.

Which Oliver Perez will show up?

Big Game Oliver Perez showed up on Saturday. And maybe he should just be Big Game Oliver Perez on a full time basis, because it seems like every time he takes the mound in a high-stakes game, Ollie comes up big. He did it against the Yankees. He did it against Atlanta. He did it last October. And he did it again on Saturday, throwing strikes, hitting his spots and basically looking unhittable from the outset.

Not only did Oliver not walk anybody over his 8 masterful innings, he provided his own bridge to the 9th inning, allowing the overtaxed, overstressed and generally overdone Bullpen to rest and relax. Ollie, Ramon Castro and the rest of the offense did everything they needed to do in order to ensure a nice, easy victory, despite what Tim McCarver would have had all of us believe.

And some Kudos...

...To Carlos Beltran, who, after banging up his knee in that ridiculous triangle, on the rubber warning track in Center Field, came back, not 100%, and played it out on Saturday when a lesser player might have sat the game out. Anyone who wants to malign Beltran for some subpar performances (and I include myself in this group) can look at this game and know that you can't ever doubt his heart.

...To Carlos Delgado, who came back after missing 2 weeks (and he was sorely missed; despite his subpar year, he does add that element of fear to the lineup, as well as protection for the batters around him) and chipped in with a few hits, and a truly monstrous HR on Friday night that salted the game away.

...To Moises Alou, who officially broke the Mets Hitting Streak record (although Wright still holds the multiple-season record), passing Hubie Brooks and Mike Piazza on Friday night, and extending his streak on Saturday.

So, everything seems much calmer for the moment, although the Mets are certainly not out of the woods yet. But if they can continue to string these victories together, the good vibes will continue to permeate. It's clear that Philadelphia is not going to go away that easy. Even though they match up against Atlanta next week, and you know Atlanta will play them tough (Hudson and Smoltz are scheduled to pitch in that series), but take nothing for granted. I can certainly be called two-faced for going back and forth as the Mets ebb and flow through the season, but in reality, isn't it just an expression of how all of us feel at any given moment in a long season? When it was bad, it looked pretty hopeless. Now, it's not as bad, but we're still not where we need to be. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done.

Right now, the onus is on you, John Maine. Keep focused, keep your head, keep in control. Just like Ollie did on Saturday, it's up to you to do the same on Sunday.

Magic Number: 7.

Oliver's Army, Revisited

Back in February when we were detailing the five key Mets for this season, we spent a lot of time talking about Oliver Perez being able to find consistency and pitch like the dominant pitcher we all knew he had the potential to be.

Although it has been a mostly uneven season for Oliver Perez, he has had the habit of throwing his best in big spots. Last night was a prime example of this. With the Braves coming in reeling, and the Mets ready to deliver a knockout blow, Oliver reached back and delivered a haymaker, tossing what may have been his most dominant effort of the season at the Braves.

Sure, there have been outings where he's given up fewer runs, or struck out more batters, or pitched deeper into the game. But at no point this season had Oliver given you the impression, from the first batter of the game when he battled back from 2-0 to strike out Yunel Escobar, that the opposition had little or no chance against him. He was throwing everything for strikes, hitting his spots, mixing in his breaking pitches and keeping the Braves off balance. But for one pitch, the 3-2 fastball to McCann in the 7th, he didn't allow a runner past second, and was able to get himself out of his only other jam in the 6th by picking off Tim Hudson at 2B, a nifty daylight play between him and Castillo. I don't think we have seen Perez more dominant than he was last night as he earned his 14th win.

Now, whether or not he can build on this remains to be seen.

Magic Number: 14.

The Drive For Five

For the eighth time this season, the Mets entered a game with a chance to win what would be a season high five games in a row.

For the first time this season, the Mets managed to succeed in winning their fifth game in a row on Tuesday night in Cincinnati.

It's about damn time.

The game was not without its drama, as Perez seemed to unravel in the 4th and 5th, losing control, losing composure and almost losing the game completely. But tonight, the Mets would not be denied; not on a night where Paul LoDuca somehow managed to cram what for him is about a month's worth of HRs and RBIs into one magical night, as he smacked a pair of 3-run HRs in Cincinnati's tiny Great American Ballpark Steroid Park #3, where the Mets have plated 10+ runs for the second game in a row, against a team mostly devoid of Major League-quality pitchers.

Meanwhile, Atlanta and Philadelphia continue to beat up on each other, as they have swapped victories in the first two games of their three-game series. I'm not sure who exactly to root for more. Conventional wisdom says to root for Atlanta since they are further behind, however rooting for the Braves comes as easily to me as chewing on glass. This as compared to rooting for Philly which is as easy for me as drinking fermented Yak bile. So let the two of them beat each other up while the Mets keep winning. They can both eat themselves.

As the season continues to wind down, we have been hearing more and more about which pitchers the Mets will carry in the postseason. Gary, Ron and Keith were discussing it on SNY tonight and Howie and Fritz were talking about the same on WFAN. Even Homeboy and the Little Guy were discussing it this afternoon (on a rare day when I was coerced into subjecting myself to them).

Right now, with Pedro back, it would appear that the Mets would be wise to go with a rotation of Maine, ElDuque, Glavine and Pedro, start them as you will, and have Oliver Perez coming out of the bullpen. This being all fine and good assuming Perez can a) Deal with being the odd man out of the rotation after performing admirably well as a starter last October as well as all of this season, and b) Come out of the Bullpen and throw strikes and get people out. I have more faith in him to do this than several other members in the bullpen, but that's neither here nor there. It would appear that the battle would be between Perez and Maine for that final spot; certainly you wouldn't put Pedro, Glavine or ElDuque in the 'pen given their collective history in the Postseason. It could be that Maine might be more a more reliable choice from the bullpen, but then, both he and Ollie have had their moments with the strike zone over the course of the season. But then, Maine also performed admirably last October as well, and furthermore has had a better season overall than Perez has, despite their numbers being basically the same (Maine: 14-8, 3.57, 144 Ks in 27 games, 163.2IP; Perez: 13-9, 3.46, 149Ks, 25 games, 153.2IP). Both have had outings where they were completely dominant. Both have also had totally miserable starts as well. But the one thing that we have seen Maine do far more consistently that Ollie is display that little extra something, that one extra intangible to buckle down and get the big out to get himself out of a jam. We've seen Maine do this all season long, and in some pretty big games. Perez has done this less frequently. Moreover, he has a tendency to lose his composure when things go bad, and this has led to bad innings snowballing completely out of control. Now, this becomes equally frightening coming out of the bullpen in the Postseason, but then, I could easily see Perez come out of the bullpen and throw darts for an inning or two and be done before he ever had the opportunity to get into trouble.

My choice is Maine in the rotation and Perez in the 'pen. Also doesn't hurt to have that extra lefty out there to ease the burden on Feliciano and Schoeneweis. Then again, if the Mets play a team like Philadelphia in the NLCS, you might have to start Perez. It's a tough call.

One More Night In Hollywood...

With the Slugfest of Thursday Night secured away (and thank God for that), the Mets resumed normal operations on Friday evening, out in Chavez Ravine, with a sharp victory that was won on the merits of Jose Reyes' speed, Marlon Anderson's skill and, most importantly, Oliver Perez's left arm.

Ollie proved he was back from his ailing back, tossing 1-run ball into the 8th, allowing 6 hits and 3 walks mixed in with his 8 strikeouts. Joe Smith, who has been rather frustrating of late, didn't get the job done, but Feliciano and Wagner did as the Mets were able to cobble together a late rally to salt away a 4-1 victory and give the Mets two sorely needed victories over the Sad Dodgers.

The Mets won on Thursday by simply beating the Dodgers into submission, then holding them off as Glavine faltered and Heilman and Mota were shaky. Sele earned a much-deserved victory for his 3 emergency innings. On Friday, the Mets relied on the shaky LA middle relief, ripping into familiar face Roberto Hernandez in a lightning fast 3-run rally that lasted the course of 3 pitches.

First, it was Reyes, using his speed and nailing a double into the left field corner. Next, it was the recently reacquired Marlon Anderson laying down a picture perfect sacrifice bunt, which was subsequently thrown away by 'Berto, allowing Reyes to score. Then, it was Beltran icing it all by nailing a HR into the All-You-Can-Eat seats in RF. Just like that, a tense pitchers duel had swung decisively in the Mets favor, the kind of game that showcased the killer instinct of the club, and, more importantly, a game that the Mets had really been lacking in of late. With Atlanta having lost earlier in the evening, the Mets needed to capitalize on an opportunity that they hadn't capitalized on very much, and they did.


Lost in all the hubbub was the return to the Mets of Marlon Anderson, who had a rather successful stay with the Mets as the key lefty bat off the bench in the 2005 season. Anderson is, of course, remembered for a couple of HRs he'd hit, one with the Mets, and one against the Mets, but what we took away from his 2005 season (where he hit .264 with 7 HRs, but suffered when pressed into everyday play with injuries to Matsui and Mientkiewicz) was that he was a heady player who could come off the bench and provide some intangible, solid play as needed. Last season, the Mets went into the Playoffs with Endy Chavez in the key player off the bench role, but he was pressed into starting with Floyd's injury. This left the Mets with Michael Tucker as their key lefty bat. Now, with Anderson, the Mets could boast a bench of Chavez, Anderson and Milledge depending on who's starting or who needs to start, and provides depth that is much more dependable than guys like Tucker, Jose Offerman or Ricky Ledee are or could ever hope to be. And that's something that should bode well.

On the other side of this, there's the case of Jose Valentin, who suffered a fractured leg after fouling a pitch off it in the 4th inning on Friday night. Valentin is most likely done for the season now, and of course, you hate to see players go down, but as I had mentioned of Valentin a couple of weeks ago, he hasn't been anywhere near the player he had been expected to be. He hadn't hit much, if at all (.236 with 3 HRs), and his defense had been compromised by his freight train-sized knee brace. And the public sentiment was that he was basically stealing playing time from Gotay purely on reputation, even though Gotay was probably going to slump and come back to earth at some point. But now, the job is Gotay's, and Marlon has plenty of experience at 2B as it is, so it could conceivably be that the solution to this injury problem is already in place. I'm not saying that if a better option should present itself to the team at the imminently approaching trading deadline that the Mets shouldn't go for it. But what I am saying is that Valentin's injury could very likely solve more problems for the Mets than it creates.

Bring the Hate

Sunday night Ballclub will be in the house for Mets-Yanks '07. The matchup should be John Maine vs. ... somebody. The latest skinny is that Chien-Ming Wang will miss the start for the Yankees and will be replaced by young 'un Tyler Clippard making his MLB debut. Needless to say, I'm excited about our prospects now that the team seems to have shaken off the difficulties with rookie pitchers that plagued them last season.

We'll be in the upper deck for this one. We've had mixed results there in the past with the rival fans. See, I'm not from New York originally. I have this stupid hope that everyone up in the stands will cheer for their team, drink a beer, have a hot dog, and enjoy the game. A little good-natured trash talk will fly around, but everyone will behave themselves.

It, um, doesn't usually happen like that.

Actually a couple years ago we were in the mezzanine for a Subway Series game—the Kaz Matsui game—and it did go that way. It was beautiful. It was like they'd crop-dusted the stadium with Paxil. Sadly, we weren't so lucky in '05, stuck way up and out in section 47. There, a group of Yankee fans behind us began singing "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch because they needed everyone in the stadium to understand the following:

• Yankee fans love America.
• The Mets hate America, because we weren't playing "God Bless America" on the PA and forcing everyone to stand up and sing along.
• Take your hat off!!!
• This particular group of (literally) flag-waving Yankee fans was more patriotic than anyone in the stadium, even the other Yankee fans, but especially the Mets fans, who clearly want the terrorists to win.

The team got its ass handed to it that day, and it seemed like the good guys' fans were substantially outnumbered up there in the four-seven, so all told it was one of the single most excruciating experiences of my life. I couldn't take it. I could feel my face turning bright red, the color it gets when I'm waiting longer than 20 minutes for the G train, multiplied by fuchsia. I was ready to fight somebody, anybody, but at 5'7"/155 that's not something I should ever do, ever. I'm pretty sure I almost had a stroke.

We weren't about to leave early, to slink out like losers, but we did watch the last inning from one level down, allowing my blood pressure to drop below emergency levels. I can't remember another time in my life that I've felt quite that level of helpless, impotent rage. The closest I can think of is the 2000 presidential election, but the anger that time was cooled down a little bit by an icy fear, so that helped.

Needless to say, our experience last year was better.

Tonight, we'll be taking in the action at Ballclub HQ - East Village Bureau, casually known as 11th Street Bar, if the weather cooperates and they get the game in. There's less urgency in this series, I think, then there has been in the past. When the Mets were terrible, there was a sense of fighting for our dignity against the cross-town bullies, of holding onto our pride. If the standings weren't on our side, maybe we could at least have the scoreboard, if just for one night. Now it just feels like a trumped-up opportunity for the fans to go through the motions of their pissing contests. The teams, as always, have bigger fish to fry. I'm still excited to see it play out, I mean it's not like we're sitting through the Padres-Mariners "rivalry weekend" here, but a lot of the edge is gone. Of course, I'm saying this now; talk to me in the late innings Sunday and you might hear a different story.

From ESPN's Diamond Daily:

Oliver Perez has an "every-other-start" thing going. In starts one, three, five and seven this season he's 4-0 with a 1.63 ERA. In starts two, four and six he's 0-2 with a 5.65 ERA. This will be his eighth start of the season.

That's just FYI. I don't actually think it means anything.

Getaway Day

Sometimes you tap the Rockies; sometimes, well, sometimes the Rockies tap you.

After last night, does anyone even give a damn? Me neither.

Mike Pelfrey is taking his lumps early on, but I hope no one is starting to panic over it. I didn't get to see the game today, and I didn't bother to listen to it once I got back to my desk and it was already love-6, so I don't know what was happening with his pitches, but my guess is that they were staying up and getting too much of the plate because he was overthrowing. Why? Because he only walked one guy but gave up eight hits. If he's overthrowing, it's a mental thing. He needs to calm down and get in his usual rhythm, to what we saw in spring training.

It's been a little up-and-down, back-and-forth, strikes-and-gutters for most of the starters so far. Friday versus Matt Chico and the Nats ought to tell us something about Oliver Perez that I think we're all waiting expectantly for the answer to: namely, can he string two good starts together, or will he keep up the seasickness-inducing pattern he's begun the season with. In other news, I'm now ending all my sentences with prepositions. I mean, prepositions are what I'm now ending all my sentences with.

Meanwhile, Shawn Green has been busy proving me dead wrong, responsible for three of the five Mets runs today on a bases-clearing double, and I love him for it. Frankly, I thought all that spring talk from him was wishful thinking on his part. Sure, Shawn, you closed that hole in your swing, you've got it all figured out now, okay. But if you look at his approach, it's not so much that he's shortened his swing as leveled it out a little. And he goes the other way, which is something he did back in his 40-homer years in Toronto, too. He looks very fluid. I still don't see this lasting all year, but if it helps hold the fort while Delgado and Wright work out what's ailing them then I'm glad for it.

What Is an Arm Slot Anyway?

Well, that blew. Last night in freezing cold temperatures Oliver Perez joined the A.J. Burnett All-Stars—pitchers who this season have had one great outing and one bad outing—joining teammate John Maine, Andy Pettitte, to a lesser extent Greg Maddux, and a few others. You probably know the line score by now: 2 1/3 innings, seven walks, and three runs "driven in" by two walks and a hit batsman. (As an aside, why is a batter a batter but when he's hit by a pitch he becomes a hit "batsman"? He's never called a hit batter, and you wouldn't say "Perez has walked seven batsmen tonight." I think we should all start working in "batsman" more often, though not in reference to our co-ed softball teams.)

I was at the game, and the good news was that we were in the mezzanine, and the bad news was everything else. Okay, that wasn't all the good news. The sausage and peppers are still killer, Aaron Sele threw four solid innings of relief that kept the Mets in the game, and I didn't lose any toes to hypothermia. I came to a couple of realizations while trying to maintain feeling in my extremities: 1) Anyone who wants my Section 40 upper-deck seats can have them for face value; I'm devoted to the mezzanine now. 2) This rotation thing is shaping up to be something unpredictable. The first couple weeks have proved that both the naysayers and the blind optimists (including yours truly) have spoken too soon and are in for an up-and-down season. We never had any real right to make bold predictions about Maine and Perez (not to mention Pelfrey). We know Maine's a good pitcher and should succeed, but we also should know that his 15 starts last year don't add up to much in the long run in terms of making predictions that hold water.

And Oliver. Oliver is who we thought he was, which is to say we have no idea what he is, because we never did. His inconsistency makes him so much more of an enigma than Victor Zambrano ever was, because you came to count on Z's lousy outings and trust that he would never be able to pull it together. Perez still holds out the tantalizing promise of masterful outings, when everything is in the strike zone but moving well and dancing away from the bats. His seven walks last night matched his total for 25 2/3 spring training innings. I don't know if it was the cold, if he lost his arm slot, or what. But I think about that start against the Braves and despite myself my optimism comes creeping back.

I'm giving Ollie a pass on this one (appropriate, since he gave a pass to every Phillie last night) and falling back on the ol' wait-and-see.

Oliver's Army

This is #3 of 5 Key Mets for 2007.

It is Sunday Morning, October 15th, 2006.

The previous night, the Mets had been stymied by Jeff Suppan, losing game 3 of the NLCS, and falling behind in the series, 2 games to 1. Things look grim. Especially looking ahead to Game 4, and who will be taking the ball for the Mets that evening.

That would be Oliver Perez.

A hard-throwing left hander, with a killer fastball and suspect control. That was Oliver Perez when he first reached the Major Leagues with the San Diego Padres in 2002. He made his Major League debut at age 20. In 2003, he would be dealt from the Padres to the sad sack Pittsburgh Pirates, amidst an unspectacular season that saw him post mediocre numbers, albeit a high number of strikeouts.

Perez would harness his talent in 2004. Despite pitching in a pitcher's park, on one of the major's worst teams, Perez would put together a breakout season. 12 Wins. A 2.98 ERA in 30 starts. An eye-popping 239 strikeouts in merely 196 innings pitched. An ace. A star in the making.

And it all fell apart very quickly. Perez failed to build on his success in 2005. By mid-2006, Perez was sent to the minors, in the midst of a miserable campaign that saw his ERA balloon to over 6.

And then he was dealt once again. This time as an ignominious throw-in to an emergency deal made with the Mets, along with Roberto Hernandez, following the injury to Duaner Sanchez. Perez was seen as little more than a hopeless reclamation project, and began his Mets career in AAA ball.

Recalled to the Mets in late August, Perez did little to excite Mets fans about his future with the team. He struggled in his first few starts. But on September 6th, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader with the Braves, Perez showed a glimpse of what he could be, tossing a 5-hit shutout. Still, he ended the season in inconsistent fashion, and left the Mets and their fans with little to no confidence in his ability to succeed if he were to be called upon in the postseason.

Surely, he wouldn't be needed...

Then the injuries hit. Suddenly, the Mets fourth playoff starter was a man who boasted a 3-13 record, with an ERA over 6 for the regular season. Fortunately, he wasn't needed as the Mets wiped out the Dodgers in the NLDS. But he would appear in the NLCS. On that Sunday night. And in the most crucial game of the Mets season.

And he delivered.

No, he wasn't great. But considering that all the Mets wanted him to do was keep them in the game, the Mets had to be thrilled. He gave up 5 runs in 5.2 innings, but most of the damage against him was done long after the game was out of reach.

That would pale in comparison to what would face him 4 nights later.

Pitching once again to save the Mets hide, Perez would again deliver in the most crucial game of his life. Pitching on a national stage, pitching to save the Mets season, and perhaps pitching to save his own career. Perez slowly but steadily kept the Cardinal hitters off balance through most of the evening.

Six innings, 1 run. Yes, he would be bailed out by Endy Chavez making the greatest catch ever. But nonetheless, Willie stuck with him, the Mets stood behind him, and Perez didn't let anyone down. There are a lot of Mets players who can shoulder the blame for the NLCS loss last season. Oliver Perez is not one of them.

But still, questions remain about Perez as we enter 2007. Can he repeat his success in the playoffs? Has Rick Peterson solved his problems? Will he be able to recapture his form of 2004? Will he even be in the Mets starting rotation this year?

Oliver Perez went a long way last October to convincing Mets fans that he was more than "just a throw-in" to a trading deadline deal. But now it's up to him to keep us believing in him. We know that Willie Randolph loves him. We know that hitters have raved about his stuff. But can he translate it all into success? We shall see...

If he does, we got us a hell of a pitcher here.

Remember the sign in the stands at Shea that last night in October...

"Oliver's army is here to stay

Oliver's army are on their way"

-Elvis Costello