Forget how much it meant for Petey just to get back out on the mound for his own well being last nights start was huge for the Mets just for the fact of the mess that Oliver Perez left on Monday night.
The conditions at AT & T were not what Petey likes as it was cool and dry and it had an effect on his breaking ball as he had trouble with his grip (Petey licked his fingers like he just ate a rack of barbeque ribs) but toward the end of his outing he did show a nice curve ball which he said he had to throw as hard as he ever had to throw a breaking pitch and his command got better as the game went on. So it was a great start for both Petey and the Mets but how many more starts does he have in him is the question.
If it looks like a platoon, walks like a platoon and smells like a platoon then it’s a platoon and that’s what Willie Randolph has at second base and catcher. No need to camouflage it Willie, it’s the right move and as soon as Omar Minaya finds a right handed hitting first baseman then Carlos Delgado becomes a platoon player as well.
More evidence that Willie has more juice than before is the fact that Raul Casanova had to leave the team due to the death of his father and my condolences to Raul and his family, and the player brought up to replace him was catcher Robinson Cancel. Randolph has never hid the fact that he loves having three catchers on board especially when one is a lefty hitter so it looks like what Willie wants, Willie gets for the time being.
Posted under Uncategorized
This post was written by kranepool on June 4, 2008
That one curveball he threw (I forget who it was to) was simply nasty. It was in the last inning he pitched I think. Watching him pitch, you can tell that he’s only a few starts away from getting his command back and IF he stays healthy is a HUGE boost to the Mets staff.
I can’t help but think of what the situation in NY would be if the Mets spent the $127 mil on Zito and he pitched like this. I think he would quit baseball. I felt bad for him because even though he is pitching poorly, he gets no run support. I’ve always liked Zito for some reason and he just looked depressed to me on the mound last night. It’s got to be hard to be dominant and to then drop off so steeply. His fastball had nice movement but he needs to learn another pitch. Maybe a splitter or a cutter. Something to offset his lack of velocity.
So, how many more starts do we give OPerez? We are not the Giants or Pirates and cannot afford leaving him in the rotation if he is going to continue to pitch like that.
Thank God we’re missing Linecum. Would suck to lose 2 of 3 from the lowly Giants.