What a horrible game. Oliver Perez was, and I'm not exaggerating, easily the worst I've ever seen him. Most of the time this season, he has only been able to get his fastball up to about 92 miles per hour, which isn't fast enough for him to be a successful starter. Today, I think I saw him touch 88 once. Most of his fastballs, at least by the FSN gun, were around 84 or 85.
On top of that, he couldn't throw a strike to save his life. It was the sort of start where, if he were playing at home, he'd be getting sarcastic applause every time he threw one. He allowed seven walks. Aside from a couple of pretty curves, his pitches were complete junk, and wild junk at that. If such a thing as a "hanging fastball" exists, the homer to Jeff Kent that Perez allowed was one.
Perez needs to go to the minors. Now. He is awful. I wish him the best and want badly for him to return to his 2004 form, but in the meantime, he is not a major league pitcher. He was painful to watch tonight. My brother, who knows baseball pretty well and was watching the game with me, asked in all seriousness if I thought Perez's career would end soon. I don't think his question was melodramatic. If Jim Colborn can fix Perez, great, but I see no evidence to suggest that he can. Let the Indianapolis coaching staff take a shot.
The only Pirate offense in this game came from Ronny Paulino and a guy who won't be on the team in a few weeks. This season is an unmitigated disaster.