The Mets will be looking for their first run in 22 innings, much less a victory, when Oliver Perez returns to the rotation tonight against Manny Ramirez and the first-place Dodgers at Citi Field. Perez has been on the disabled list since early May, ostensibly with a sore knee but more likely because the Mets couldn’t afford to keep the loopy left-hander at the big-league level after his atrocious April.
Perez will be trying to lower an ERA that had ballooned to 9.97 by the time the Mets pulled the plug on the gamble that had set them back $36 million over three years when Perez was re-signed in free agency over the winter.
Perez, who is 5-5 with a 3.88 ERA in 11 career starts against the Dodgers, will take on Hiroki Kuroda. The Japanese righty comes in 3-4 with a 3.91 ERA overall and, on the bright side for Jerry Manuel‘s club, is 0-1 with a 12.00 ERA in two career starts versus the Mets.
Here is the 39-43 Mets’ order for the 7:10 p.m. game:
Alex Cora SS
Daniel Murphy 1B
David Wright 3B
Gary Sheffield LF
Ryan Church RF
Jeremy Reed CF
Brian Schneider C
Luis Castillo 2B
Oliver Perez LHP (1-2, 9.97)
