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First up is Oliver “Wild Thing†Perez. Well the wait is finally over as Ollie took the mound and went 5 innings of two run ball to qualify for the win on Wednesday night. While not the most dominating return there are positives that can they can build on. For his last out in the 5th up two with runners on 1st and 2nd, Ollie bared down to get Eithier to fly out on a looping curveball. Ollie did walk 7 guys which is something he clearly needs to work on but with those walks; only two runs came across to score. This shows that while Ollie got himself into trouble, he found a way to pitch out of it and keep the Mets with a lead. Hopefully this is the first of many MUA’s for Ollie and is a good sign for our hopes that lie on the DL team returning and contributing.
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Next up is David Wright. David was ice cold coming into this game in a 0-17 skid which saw his average drop 20 points from .345 to .325. He broke out of it tonight by going 2/4 while driving in a run and accounting for 2 of the Mets 5 runs tonight. We must hope that this will jumpstart David’s bat for this month as he is only hitting .111 in July. Needless to say that David is one of the last remaining offensive threats that this team has and we need to get him going. I would like to see David steal more however as his last stolen base was on June 29 versus the Brewers but on a positive note, David has been striking out less every month. In April he had 27, May he had 26 and in June he had 23.
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Next up is Jeremy Reed. Jeremy had a nice night going 2/3 with an RBI. Jeremy accounted for the run that broke the Mets 23 inning scoreless streak. Jeremy is quietly putting together a nice season and has shown to be a dependable back up in the outfield. Jeremy is batting .293 on the season and has played a PERFECT outfield with no errors committed in his 48 games. Jeremy is the most dependable fielder and usually benefits from the double switch to see action but if he keeps getting the job done like last night, he may be starting a few games as the time table for Beltrans return is unknown.
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Last up is Dan “The Man†Murphy. If you didn’t see the defensive play of the year so far by Daniel, I suggest you youtube it. It was straight out of a back yard baseball H-O-R-S-E game. Loretta smoked a ball down the right field line that bounced off the 1st base bag and went straight up into the air. Daniel was positioned to attempt the ball after it passed the bag but since the ball went straight up, he dashed to the balls new resting place. Daniel most likely figured he had no shot and scooped the ball up and threw it behind him. Bobby Parnell was in position at 1st base and the throw was good enough for the umpire to call Loretta out at 1st base. To be fair it was a bang/bang play but the umpires decision was final. Daniel also had a good night, going 2/4 and his double in the first inning was the Mets first extra base hit since Brian Schneider hit a double in the Philly series. Daniel also drove in a run and accounted for two runs but clearly the focus on Daniel was what would be considered in my opinion the And 1 play of the year. Hopefully that play alone would garnish some more playing time at 1st base.
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Honorable Mentions:
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Luis Castillo for driving in Jeremy Reed to break the Mets 23 inning scoreless streak
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Fransisco Rodriguez for baring down and working around a 9th inning homerun by Manny Ramirez to get his 22st save of the year
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Bobby Parnell and Pedro Feliciano for tag teaming to throw 2 innings of scoreless relief.
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Brian Schneider for getting a hit with bases loaded and driving in a run.
13 comments
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-12:09pm at 12:09 pm (UTC -4)
Nice. I was hoping Ollie would get a MUA. He’d be proud.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-12:10pm at 12:10 pm (UTC -4)
The “Ollie Lama” displayed his full array of non-violent resistance last night.
QnsNative718
7/9/2009-12:20pm at 12:20 pm (UTC -4)
I wasnt encouraged by Ollie’s performance at all. 7 walks is one shy of his career high, and thats saying something. His arm slots were all over the place again. Still though, a win is a win and hopefully he can build from this and the encouragement from his team mates which was very nice to see.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-12:28pm at 12:28 pm (UTC -4)
Not at all? Obviously, the 7 walks stand out as a huge negative, I agree, but I was very encouraged by 2 things: his slider, which for the most part was excellent; and his lack of a total meltdown. In the past he (especially earlier this season) would’ve just imploded and never made it out of the 3rd inning after 3 consecutive walks. I was pleased that he didn’t completely fall apart right there, and actually threw 2 more innings after that with minimal (1 run) damage. Hopefully as you said that moment can be built on.
Clearly this is not what we want for $12 million, but I think it was a small, positive step.
QnsNative718
7/9/2009-12:40pm at 12:40 pm (UTC -4)
I guess, but to me thats like saying Joe Blow is lookin good at the plate because he struck out 3 times instead of his usual 4. And him not “imploding” is something a $36M/3yr player should not be doing. He shouldnt get porps for that. His ball/strike ratio wasnt anything to cheer about either. Still though, he earned that victory, and hopefully he can build off it.
QnsNative718
7/9/2009-12:41pm at 12:41 pm (UTC -4)
*props
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-12:52pm at 12:52 pm (UTC -4)
I hear you. IMO considering the ultimate low point he hit earlier this season, last night was progress. I also personally can’t hold a player’s salary up to their production, otherwise since Daniel Murphy is making $400,000 he should feel free to bat .080 and strike out 8 of every 10 at bats while making 81 errors and Johan should be 13-0 with a 0.65 ERA and 2 strikeouts per inning. I only even mentioned it initially because I know many people do hold salaries against players so for conversational purposes the concept can’t just be ignored.
All I’m really getting at is, IMO, last night was an improvement and a positive step in bringing Ollie back from the abyss to at least mediocrity. I’m not expecting anything more than the latter from him, regardless of his salary.
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-12:30pm at 12:30 pm (UTC -4)
from NY futurestars.com
Lance Broadway 9 IP, 7 H, ER, 2/4 BB/K, 5.68 era, W (2-5), 114:72,42, 10:13:4
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-12:37pm at 12:37 pm (UTC -4)
sorry, wrong post
saltygary
7/9/2009-12:42pm at 12:42 pm (UTC -4)
Rob Neyer of ESPN wasn’t a big fan of Ollies performance:
Last night after the Mets escaped with a win, I hung around for the postgame analysis, and my ears perked up when the discussion turned to Oliver Perez, making his first start for the big club since early May. Perez gave up two runs in five innings to earn the victory. He also walked seven Dodgers. Bob Ojeda’s take on Perez:
When it looked like he was going to implode, he just held it together…
Does he make mistakes out over it? Absolutely. But when he makes those mistakes,
they swing at ‘em…
He’s inviting swings. The reason he gives up so many walks is because they tend
to take him a lot. They take him a lot because of his history. But tonight, by
working that inside part of the plate, he was able to get more swings at vital
times, when he needed it.
–snip–
… His timing of his delivery was much more consistent than before he left. So was there some progress? Absolutely … Did he still walk seven? Sure he did. But that’s part of the mindset of the offense. The offense goes up there, let’s wait him out. He doesn’t get borderline swings that a control pitcher might get.
Can we not sugarcoat this thing? Perez’s start last night was just short of a disaster.
When Perez got sent down — or DL’d, or whatever — in April, it was because he’d walked 21 batters in 22 innings. During his rehab (or whatever) stint, he embarrassed some Class A hitters, and also started twice against Triple-A teams … and against those more experienced hitters, he issued nine walks in nine innings.
Wednesday night, he issued seven walks in five innings.
Just to sum up: This season, Perez has thrown 36 innings above the Double-A level. In those 36 innings, he has walked 37 batters. I’m all for giving a guy with a solid history a bit of rope, but it always strikes me as odd when a player fails miserably, is exiled to correct a particular flaw, doesn’t correct the flaw … and is un-exiled anyway.
I know the Mets are desperate. They’re flailing in the standings, they’ve got one starter who’s been better than average, and of course they’ve got that huge payroll that includes Oliver Perez’s $12 million salary. You can almost, almost understand why the Mets have tossed him back into the rotation. And for one night at least, it “worked.”
But while the Mets might feel like they didn’t have much of a choice, the rest of us do. In his five innings last night, Perez threw 55 strikes and 53 balls. If he keeps doing that, the batters are going to continue to “take him a lot” and he won’t get those “borderline swings.” And he’ll lose. His performance last night was not something to celebrate. His performance last night was a big red sign with flashing lights and blaring Klaxons.
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-12:53pm at 12:53 pm (UTC -4)
so what’s the point. trade him now? send him back?
This is Ollie. At the end of the day, what matters is that he kept the Dodgers to two runs. Did he keep the other team from scoring many runs? That is the ultimate test IMO.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-1:02pm at 1:02 pm (UTC -4)
What is Neyer supposed to say, something like I did above that his start last night was a “small step back from the abyss?” Of course not, because saying that doesn’t generate emotional responses from readers/watchers/callers, which then doesn’t generate webhits/ratings.
Also, he claims the Mets “have a choice” even if they don’t think so. What was the choice Mr. Neyer? Redding? Notice (at least in this quoted portion) he doesn’t bother to mention what the choice might be. If he had, it would’ve pointed out the flaw in his thesis.
stickguy
7/9/2009-12:53pm at 12:53 pm (UTC -4)
As a #4/5 starter (albeit an expensive one), if he can pitch at least 6 innings, I would rather see 6 walks and 3 hits instead of 6 hits and 3 walks. Especially if the Ollie hits are singles.
Hey, it takes 4 walks to score a run, but you can do it with 1 hit!
Yes, Ollie needs to tighten it up a bit and at least be closer (to get more swing and misses), but I don’t want to see him back to laying it over and getting pounded like Redding.
someone had a quote once (and I am paraphrasing, or maybe just flat out making it up!) that you should never throw a strike in the strike zone, instead you want batters to swing at ones out of the zone.
Look at lincecum. He has been on a tear lately, and half his pitches are out of the zone. Just so good that batters swing at them!