Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Don't Even Watch Oliver Perez Until April

Johan Santana got hit pretty hard yesterday in a spring training game. He gave up four runs and had trouble with his control. Of course, he's Santana so we don't really think anything of it. I mean, come on, it's spring training.

However, the media and Mets fans are all over Oliver Perez. He got shellacked the other day for 5 runs in like 2 innings and the Daily News led with the headline "Ollie Oops!" I'm not trying to compare Perez to Santana because, let's be honest, there is no comparison. But we've got to cut Ollie just a little bit of slack.

This is spring training after all. I don't care if Perez goes 0-12 in spring training with a 6 ERA because if he wins double digit games in the regular season that's what matters. Perez got hit hard in his last spring outing, but I was happy to see him throwing strikes and cutting down on his walks.

Perez is a headcase. He's certifiably nuts. There is zero chance that anyone can accurately predict what is going on in that brain or how he'll do from one outing to the next. That's why I'm not going to even bother watching Perez pitch until April. I'll wait til the season begins to start casting judgment and calling for his head because that's when we need him to do something.

A no-hitter in spring training or an ERA under 2 mean jack squat in March.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

nice to see some levity on this from a met blogger/fan. everytime i read someone blowing up over ollie's start then turning around and dismissing Santana's, the hypocrisy literally slaps me in the face. Yes i too agree, there is no comparison between the two pitchers, well a few... They're both lefties, they both pitch for the Mets, AND THIS WAS THE FIRST START OF SPRING TRAINING....they pitched a few innings, threw some strikes, well Ollie may have been better in that department actually...lol...and neither got hurt.

Thomas

Unknown said...

i think the "neither got hurt" part is the biggest win for mets fans