I'm just going to stick with straight up Oliver Perez, Ollie, or Big Game Ollie P. Whatever you want to call him, know this - he pitched a good game last night. Perhaps my little pep talk worked (thanks for reading Ollie). BGOP pitched six strong against the Friars allowing 1 earned on 3 hits while striking out 4 and limiting his walks to 2. He threw almost 2/3 of his pitches for strikes while only tossing 90 total. He also gets to add the first W in Citi Field history to his resume.A wise move on Jerry's part to take him out after the 6th. Sure I think he could have kept going - I think too highly of him though. With the early exit, he gets out of the game on a high note. There was no chance of even a minor implosion to allow the Queens faithful to get on his case. This should boost his confidence to the level it needs to be in order to keep pitching effectively. Ollie's next start will come either Sunday against the Brew Crew or Tuesday in St. Louis, pending how thing's shake out with Big Pelf's tendinitis. With his low pitch count tonight, I could see the team possibly pitching OP on short rest, though I hope they just call Niese up for a spot start.
On another note - and I have remained very quiet on this one - I can't stand Gary Sheffield. I hope he can win me over, but as of now I don't like him one bit. Last night he (and that dumb ass smirk of his - remember when your mom used to tell you "if you keep making that face it's going to get stuck like that forever," that happened to him) successfully struck out, grounded into a double play (which killed a rally), and stranded 4. I don't understand why Jerry needs to find playing time for him and take our hottest hitter in Ryan Church out of the lineup. Leave Gary on the bench to pinch hit or bring him in to occasionally give a guy some rest against left handed pitching. There is no need to see him on the field right now. I hope he rides the pine for the rest of the home stand.
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