The trick is to find the silver lining in things.
Sunday’s silver lining was that Oliver Perez pitched.
It’s hard to find diamonds in the rough that is a 14-1 loss, especially one where they couldn’t hit a pitcher entering his tenth major league game. Tougher still if you don’t count the diamond that was the pre-game ceremony inducting Frank Cashen, Davey Johnson, Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden into the Mets Hall of Fame (which was awesome). But the diamond in this rough was the appearance of Oliver Perez, who looks more and more like the devil character from Joker’s Wild. Not the result of his appearance mind you, which was terrible, but just the fact that he was on the mound not only made me smile, but came as a breath of fresh air.
You see, there was a “suggestion“, and I’m not sure where it came from, that Snoop wouldn’t use Oliver Perez at Citi Field … presumably to keep him away from the booing that would surely take place if he were to darken the foot of the mound with his selfish shadow. And to that I say simply: screw that. Preferably, with a splintered bat. Perez is making a ton of money to give up runs and refuse minor league assignments. The fact that he hasn’t been released yet is a slap in the collective faces of Met fans. But for Mets types to even suggest that Oliver stay away from the Citi Field faithful and not have to, perish the thought, hear boos at the expense of gassing the bullpen is not only irresponsible to the team, but unfair to the fans. Met fans have gotten the short end of the stick a whole bunch the last few years. The least they can get in return is to have an opportunity to let Perez hear it.
I for one am tired of the coddling of Perez that has existed since he got here. It’s the same kind of coddling that exists with the Mets teams of this decade, that cringe at the very notion of somebody from the past laying into them for one reason or another, whether it be Keith Hernandez in ’02 with the “they quit” line (hint: they did), or the complaints about Strawberry giving some of the current players a challenge to be better (hint: they’re not). So it’s no surprise to see this team die on a day when people who gave a damn were honored. But heaven forbid you tell them they died or they’ll get all “sensitive”. And heaven forbid Oliver Perez hears boos.
The irony is that we were all worried about 24-and-1 when it came to A-Rod, but Perez has created a 1-and-24 of a different sort. How has Oliver repaid the Mets for all the protection he’s gotten? Bad pitching and refusing minor league assignments forcing the Mets to invent injuries, that’s how. So good for Snoop Manuel to put Perez in the game in blowout time to save the rest of the bullpen. I’m actually surprised we didn’t see Frankie getting work in.
Of course, Snoop undid that good by warming up Raul Valdes for no good reason during the ninth inning. What, Perez was going to be taken out of a 14-1 loss?
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