Coming into Spring Training there was a lot of positive buzz on Oliver Perez.  Besides new facial hair he had been working out in Arizona for months getting in shape and trying to work on his pitches.  Perez arrived in excellent shape, a complete 180 from the year before.  People who follow the team on a daily basis said that Ollie was more focused and ready to earn his 36 million dollar contract.  Then came [...]

Oliver Perez took the mound today against the National League’s best starter, Tim Lincecum. Sometimes in a matchup like this, you’ll see some mediocre pitchers unfortunate enough to be in this matchup, at least elevate their performance somewhat. That wouldn’t be the case for Ollie as he delivered one of his worst performances of the season, lasting just 3 1/3 innings and allowing four runs while walking seven batters, throwing a wild pitch, and hitting one batter.  It was [...]

“We- players, writers, fans- talk about the importance of the little things and getting the breaks and clutch pitching and hitting, but sometimes I wonder whether the truth isn’t more simple. The main difference between the winners and losers? Winning.” Keith Hernandez from his novel If At First… The wisdom of Keith Hernandez whether on the field or today in the broadcast booth, has always been the gift that the Mex keeps on giving. His [...]

Yes, you did read the title correctly. Over the past week and a half, Mets pitchers have indeed been good for nothing, meaning they’ve been good enough to hold the opposition to practically nothing on the scoreboard. Pitching was not supposed to be the strong point of the 2010 Mets. After all, the Mets’ starting rotation was supposed to be made up of Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts. Mike Pelfrey had come off a [...]

I asked this question the other day while on Twitter, with Jenrry Mejia in the bullpen, Nelson Figueroa in Philly, and no major league ready pitching prospects on call, who would be the Mets’ first choice to replace an injured or under-performing starter? Kelvim Escobar, Hisanori Takahashi and Fernando Nieve were the most popular answers I received. Unfortunately, Escobar may not comeback from his injury and even if he did, he signed on as a reliever, and [...]

Sure, we’re all thrilled that the Mets continued their Opening Day dominance on Monday with a win over the Marlins to start the 2010 season.  It was a very complete performance with Johan Santana, Fernando Nieve and K-Rod holding the Marlins to one run; and our hitters, starting with David Wright belting a first-inning two-run homer against our nemesis Josh Johnson, delivering enough runs to make it a rout.  Newcomers Jason Bay, Gary Matthews Jr. [...]

You may have noticed that I have not written much in recent weeks.  It’s simply because I’ve had little to say.  And as spring training winds down, I am left shocked and speechless, with my mouth wide open.  It’s sad but true.  I am extremely discouraged on the state of the 2010 Mets. All winter long I stuck up for the Mets.  I jumped early on the Murphy bandwagon and called for fans to accept [...]

The 2010 season opener is just 6 days away for the Mets.  In 6 days the Mets will stop playing Spring Training games and play games that really matter.  This Spring hasn’t been a great one.  Carlos Beltran didn’t make it to the field, Jose Reyes was sidelined for 3 weeks, and there’s still questions going into the season that have most Met fans worried about 2010 before it even starts.  I know the numbers aren’t [...]

Mets fans will never stop hoping for the best possible results this season, especially before the games even begin.  Our desire to root for a winner is so great, oftentimes blinding us to the realities of the situation.  We hope that Reyes and Beltran will return on schedule.  We hope that our starting pitchers will pitch to their potential.  We hope… Hope is high.  Expectations are low.  There are the optimists and pessimists, as well [...]

As was the case a year ago, the Mets once again enter the season with high hopes and plenty of demons to exorcise from the prior season. And much like last season, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Oliver Perez will be counted on heavily to deliver the best performances of their careers. That’s not really asking for much when you review their career numbers, and yet neither of them would rise to the occasion in 2009. [...]

I was ready to accept the fact that Omar Minaya made a really horrible decision when he re-signed Oliver Perez last year to a 3-year deal worth $36 million.  I was a Perez fan back in the 2006 playoffs, especially when he did a commendable job starting Game 7 of the NLCS.  Of course, since then Ollie has battled injuries and inconsistency, mostly the latter.  And he was really pretty bad last season, ultimately finishing [...]