When it comes to enigmatic and inconsistent Oliver Perez, there’s always been Good Ollie and Bad Ollie, depending on whether his once-dominant fastball is on or not. But this year, with his velocity gone, can the guile Perez has found make up for the speed he’s lost? Last night the answer was no.
And that may be the most important question of his season. Truth be told, Perez wasn’t bad; but he wasn’t as good as he’d been the start before against St. Louis. And with the anemic middle of the Mets’ order, middling isn’t good enough, and he got the loss in a 9-3 defeat to the Cubs.
After the starters had pitched to a 0.95 ERA in their last six games, Perez (0-2) lost after allowing eight hits and three runs — two earned — in a five-inning outing that raised more questions and provided few answers.
“I didn’t have the stuff from the game before,” said Perez. “You have to know sometimes you don’t have the fastball the way you want it. You have to go with the other pitches.
“That was really hard for me to throw five innings, but I did everything I can. . . . I have to keep working and get stronger. Sometimes you have to change how you throw; that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Ollie Perez, crafty lefty? What’s the world coming to? His fastball was in the upper 80s, he relied on curveballs and changeups . . . and was made to pay on cutters.
He allowed an unearned run in the third, thanks to David Wright’s error. Then he tried to throw a cutter in on Alfonso Soriano in the fourth, but left it over the plate for a triple, and he hung another to Geovany Soto for an RBI single. Soriano stroked an RBI single in the fifth for a 3-1 lead.
“We had the right approach, but you just need to execute,” said catcher Rod Barajas. “If you don’t execute even though you have the right approach, you’re going to get in trouble. . . .
“Right now he’s pitching high 80s and he’s shown he can be successful with that velocity, you just need to be sure you limit those mistakes.”
