Ollie and the NLCS

It is very strange to think that the ex-Pirate who may end up having the biggest impact on ends up in the World Series could be Oliver Perez. He started the most important game of the season for the Mets last night and had to give them 5 or 6 decent innings after John Maine and Steve Trachsel combined for only 5 innings in the Mets' losses in games 2 and 3. Anyone that's watched him this year knows that's no small task for Perez, but he managed to do it last night. His line wasn't great, 5 and 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 5 runs, 3 homers, but it was enough for the Mets. He kept a consistent motion, he threw hard (fastball mostly at 94 all night with a couple pitches topping out at 96), had a good slider working, and only walked one batter, throwing 52 of 96 pitches for strikes (it should be noted that his last game appearence was September 26th). If it was a regular season outing for the Pirates we would've probably called it "encouraging" because besides the homers he pitched pretty well, for the Mets it was season saving (down 3-1 knowing that Trachsel and Maine are starting 2 games is not where you want to be in the NLCS).

As an aside, Perez is still one of the most fun players to watch in the league. He's more emotional on the mound than anyone and there's still nothing quite like watching him try to bat. Last night he dove out of the box against a two-strike Tyler Johnson curveball that was not knee-buckling by any stretch of the imagination only to watch the ump ring him up. Here's an AP article about his struggles this year that pretty much dumps all over the Pirates. As for the series, I still think the Mets are a better team but I also think they pretty much have to win tonight. I don't see them winning both of the last two games with Maine/Trachsel/Perez starting even though they are at home, especially since Carpenter and Suppan (who's been very good this postseason) will take the mound against them.