-P- Today's rained-out game might have been Oliver Perez's last shot before being sent to Indianapolis. I think that's probably a good idea, but like Van Slyke, I don't think this situation makes Jim Tracy or pitching coach Jim Colborn look very good. Perez says they've messed with his mechanics and that he's going back to the way he was pitching in 2004. I know Perez has never had great mechanics, but he was terrible in 2005, and I don't know why the first course of action, if you're the pitching coach, wouldn't be to get him back to where he was in 2004 before considering making more adjustments. Perhaps this is an area where my lack of experience playing baseball will show, but I doubt it. Get Oliver back to what he was doing in 2004: why didn't anyone have this stunningly obvious idea before?
Elsewhere, like Van Slyke points out, Tracy continues to defend Jeromy Burnitz despite demonstrating "growing impatience" with Perez. Tracy, to his credit, has denied that Perez needs to pitch well in his next start to avoid being sent down, but Perez's performance obviously bothers Tracy, and he needs to be consistent. Both Perez and Burnitz have been awful; the differences are that Burnitz is old and that obviously better alternatives have been queued up behind him for months. Today, Burnitz was in the fifth spot in the batting order, with Craig Wilson fourth and Jason Bay sixth. Has Jim Tracy lost his mind? Why would you ever do that?
-P- Reliever Giovanni Carrara asked for and received his release from Indianapolis.
-P- These are a few days old, but here are two reports by WTM on the minors.