Perez Leaves Yankees Left Out

Oliver Perez has always had the ability to be a successful pitcher in the major leagues. But whether it be his head, his arm, his heart, who knows what else, he has always had trouble keeping it together. Sandy Koufax one minute, Steve Trout the next. But not when Perez pitches against the Yankees. He dominated them once again yesterday at Shea Stadium as the Mets salvaged the finale of the three games played at home.

In an attempt to offset the left-handed throwing Perez, Joe Girardi stacked the lineup with right-handers. What that meant was Jorge Posada at 1st base, .225 hitting Jose Molina behind the plate, rookie Justin Christian in right field, and Wilson Betemit (.259 against lefties) at 2nd base. Throw in a pitcher who can't hit and you can see it wasn't a strong lineup.

You would assume that the Yankees lefties struggled against Perez, but that was not true with the exception of Johnny Damon, who started in left field and was 1-8, and Bobby Abreu who sat on the bench with an o-10. However, Robinson Cano, who has been hot lately, was 4-10 against Perez, while Jason Giambi had a hit in just 2 at-bats. No matter how you slice it, things didn't work out.

Perez limited the Yankees to just 3 hits over 7 innings, while striking out 8. His lone mistake was a solo home run hit by Betemit in his final inning of work. Darrell Rasner, meanwhile, continued to struggle.

He worked out of a 2-on, 2-out jam in the 1st inning, but the Mets broke through in the 2nd. Endy Chavez and Brian Schneider put together back to back 1-out singles, and Perez sacrificed them up a base. Luis Castillo hit a slow chopper up the middle and just beat Derek Jeter's throw to 1st for a 1-0 lead. Rasner retired David Wright on a chopper to Alex Rodriguez to escape further trouble.

In the 3rd, Carlos Delgado hit a tremendous solo home run off of the scoreboard in center field for a 2-0 lead. It was Delgado's first hit since his 9 RBI outburst in the first game on Friday.

The Yankees had a chance in the 4th, when Derek Jeter single with one out and moved to 2nd base on a wild pitch. But Perez struck out A-Rod swinging and retired Posada on a ground out to Castillo at 2nd.

Rasner was gone after 5 and Dave Robertson came on for his major league debut. He became the 3rd Yankee, along with Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy, to reach the majors after being drafted in 2006. He struck out his first batter, Perez, but gave up back to back singles to Reyes and Castillo and wild pitched them into scoring position. Wright delivered Reyes with a sac fly before Robertson retired Beltran on an inning ending fly out.

Pedro Feliciano retired the Yankees in order in the 8th and then it was up to Billy Wagner to close things out. Jeter lead off with a single and moved to 2nd base on a wild pitch, but he would be left there. A-Rod just missed one, hitting a deep fly that Chavez caught at the edge of the warning track in left-center, well short of the 358-ft sign. Posada then grounded out and Betemit struck out looking to seal the deal.


News and Notes

Oliver Perez is now 5-1, 2.61 in 6 career starts against the Yankees. He's struck out 31 batters in 41.1 innings pitched.

Jose Reyes had a tantrum when Carlos Delgado couldn't handle his throw on a Melky Cabrera ground out. The ball should have been caught, but Reyes was charged with the error. In a great act of immaturity, Reyes slammed his glove down. Anyone else think Reyes may be elsewhere next year?

It's sounding more and more like Hideki Matsui may need knee surgery.


June 29, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	4	0
NY Mets	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	X		3	12	1

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	1	0	0	3	0	.316
Jeter, SS	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.284
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.322
Posada, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.287
Betemit, 2B	4	1	1	1	0	2	1	.266
Cabrera, CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.246
Molina, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.225
Christian, RF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Rasner, P	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Moeller, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.254
Robertson, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
b-Giambi, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.262
Ramirez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	32	1	4	1	0	10	7
a-Flied out for Rasner in the 6th. b-Flied out for Robertson in the 8th.
BATTING HR: Betemit (4, 7th inning off Perez, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon; Jeter 2; Betemit 4. RBI: Betemit (12). 2-out RBI: Betemit. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Molina; Betemit. Team LOB: 4. FIELDING PB: Molina (6). DP: (Betemit-Jeter-Posada).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rasner (L, 4-6)	5.0	8	2	2	3	3	1	4.42
Robertson	2.0	4	1	1	0	1	0	4.50
Ramirez	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.46

NY Mets	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Reyes, SS	4	1	2	0	1	0	0	.296
Castillo, 2B	5	0	3	1	0	1	1	.260
Wright, 3B	3	0	0	1	0	0	5	.285
Beltran, CF	3	0	0	0	1	1	2	.270
Delgado, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	0	2	.231
Tatis, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.256
Church, RF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.304
Chavez, LF	4	1	3	0	0	0	1	.242
Schneider, C	3	0	1	0	1	0	3	.260
Perez, P	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	.182
Feliciano, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Anderson, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.198
Wagner, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	33	3	12	3	3	4	16
a-Flied out for Feliciano in the 8th.
BATTING HR: Delgado (14, 3rd inning off Rasner, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Reyes 2; Castillo 3; Delgado 4; Church 2; Chavez 3; Schneider. RBI: Castillo (26), Delgado (45), Wright (64). 2-out RBI: Castillo. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Delgado; Wright 2; Perez; Beltran. S: Perez. SF: Wright. GIDP: Schneider. Team LOB: 11. FIELDING E: Reyes (11, throw).

NY Mets IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Perez (W, 6-5) 7.0 3 1 1 0 8 1 4.98 Feliciano (H, 8) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.78 Wagner (S, 18) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.91

WP: Robertson, Perez, Wagner. IBB: Schneider (by Rasner). Pitches-strikes: Rasner 102-59, Robertson 33-22, Ramirez 13-9, Perez 106-72, Feliciano 17-13, Wagner 14-9. Ground outs-fly outs: Rasner 5-7, Robertson 2-3, Ramirez 0-3, Perez 4-9, Feliciano 0-2, Wagner 1-1. Batters faced: Rasner 26, Robertson 9, Ramirez 3, Perez 25, Feliciano 3, Wagner 4. Umpires: HP: Mike DiMuro. 1B: Mike Estabrook. 2B: Larry Vanover. 3B: Mike Everitt. Weather: 88 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, R to L. T: 3:00. Att: 56,277.