The Mets have a lot riding on the left arm of Oliver Perez, the enigmatic pitcher who can pitch like Steve Carlton one day and Steve Van Zandt the next. He is their No. 3 starter — who signed a three-year deal in the offseason worth $12 million per — and has to get to 12-15 wins for the Mets to have a shot at the Phillies.
Yesterday, he certainly didn’t live up to his salary, giving up eight runs in less than five innings after retiring the first six Reds he faced.
In too many ways, the outing was typical Ollie — there was a Phillies game last year in which he imploded in the third — as was his explanation:
Perez did not allow a base runner in the first two innings and struck out the side in the second. Then, his control disappeared.
Perez walked two of the first four batters he faced in the third inning and gave up an RBI single to Darnell McDonald and a three-run homer to Joey Votto.
“All my pitches were working,” Perez said. “They were taking chances.”
Huh?
When asked if he knew what Perez meant by that, catcher Ramon Castro said, “No.”
Pitching coach Dan Warthen? “I don’t understand,” Warthen said.
I like Perez, think he has as live an arm as any Mets pitcher (not named Johan Santana) has had in years and think he is worth the effort. Lefties tend to develop late — Perez will be 28 in August. Randy Johnson had compiled a 49-48 record at the same age and had led the league in walks for three straight years with an earned run average in the high 3s at a time when that was average (the league average these days is in the mid-4s).
I’m not claiming that Oliver Perez will become Randy Johnson — who became the superstar pitcher everyone expected him to be the next year. I’m just offering Johnson as an example of how lefties — especially power-pitching lefties — tend to develop late.
Another example, one that may be closer to what we might expect from Perez, is Al Leiter. Leiter is remembered as a bulldog pitcher who helped anchor the Mets and Marlins’ rotations in the late ’90s. But it is instructive to remember that Leiter did not have his first double-digit winning season until he turned 29 — after shaking off injuries and the heavy weight of expectations. For the next 10 years, he became a rather reliable winner, going 133-99.
So, patience will be an important virtue for the Mets as they move ahead with Ollie — and their two righties, Mike Pelfrey and John Maine. At the same time, they may need a lot more out of their No. 5 starter than is normally expected.
Hank Kalet 