Who knows what we can expect from Oliver Perez when he takes the mound tonight against the Padres. Mike Puma of the Post says it best, “If Perez wants the boos, moos and jokes to disappear, tonight would be as good a time as any to get his act together and give the Mets something resembling a quality outing. ” Geesh… easier said than done.

According to a post on MetsBlog from Jordan Zakarin, ESPN’s Peter Gammons has reported that Mike Pelfrey has forearm tendinitis. Apparently he said this on the air, but I couldn’t find anything more on this after some searching. It would explain the dismal start by Big Pelf and will also rehash the debate over the Verducci Effect.

Billy Wagner took a major step forward in his rehab and threw off a mound yesterday. Mets pitching coordinator Guy Conti was impressed. “My job is to observe him, see how he looks and see how he feels, and he looks good,” Conti said. “I think he was excited to be out there and put the uniform on again. He seemed happy. He’s a real tough, competitive guy, and we want to see where he’s at. I was shocked at how he looked, physically. He came out in shorts Tuesday, and he was just cut. His legs look strong and his core looks strong. He just looks strong.”

I understand that Ollie was given a big contract during the offseason but this game did not count.  It was just a Spring Training game and an opportunity for the Mets to get a feel for Citi Field.  What I saw last Saturday afternoon was not called for.  Ollie’s outing does not affect the regular season and our pursuit of getting into the post season.  Second of all Ollie didn’t do anything that we don’t expect from him.  Ollie is very inconsistent, he’ll not make it out of the 1st inning in one start and the next start he’ll go 8 innings and giving up no more than 1 hit in that start.  We also know that Ollie has problems in pitching in games against lesser teams during the regular season.  Now I know the Red Sox are a great team, potential A.L. East divison winners but Saturday’s game didn’t count and I believe that for some reason Ollie just does not have his head on right for those type of games.  Fans should be used to this by now or at least better start getting used to it because that is the way Ollie is and for better or worse he is with the Mets for the next 3 years.

What did bother me Saturday was how fast the Met fans are to boo their own players.  Castillo got some jeers from the crowd during the weekend as well.  I don’t think this is a good way to start the season in a new ball park.  I was hoping that with Citi Field and the additions of K-Rod and J.J. Putz as well as a complete revamp of the bullpen the boos would be silenced, at least for a little bit of time during the first few months of the season but it does not look like that will be the case.  I don’t think it’s smart to boo our guys before the season even starts!  Our guys need to know that coming home their home fans are going to have their backs and support them.  I can understand letting out your frustrations if it was August or the dreaded month of September but April 4, 2009 in an exhibition game is unacceptable.