In making my morning internet rounds today, I saw the Bucs Dugout post about the Mets (finally) booting Oliver Perez out of their rotation. What really struck me is just how long it’s been since it seemed like Perez had the potential to be something really special. That year was 2004, seven years ago. The Pirates gave up on him in 2006, five years ago.
It’s strange how time passes when you’re watching bad baseball. Perez’s start in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, the Yadier Molina home run/Carlos Beltran backwards-K game, seems like it could’ve been 100 years ago. The Cardinals … played the Tigers in the World Series that year? Kenny Rogers was still in baseball and doing memorable things during the playoffs? That could’ve been 1996 for all I can remember. But Perez’s great season, the Preying Mantis poses on the mound, the wicked fastball/slider combo, the huge strikeout numbers, that seems like it could’ve been last year. I was as excited about Ollie back then as I have been about any other Pirate pitcher since.
It’s funny what you hold on to when you don’t have winning seasons to remember.
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