In case you were hoping for rain...

[Centerfield]

...with Oliver Perez set to go Game 4 if necessary, I looked up the weather in LA to see if we had any chance of a rainout. Check out this forecast!

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA0638?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared

Let's hope Trax can get it done in Game 3, because without rain, we're in trouble on Sunday.

[Willets Point]

Reminds me of that clip from LA Story where Steve Martin pretapes the weather report because it's always sunny in Los Angeles.

[MFS62]

IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Got on a board a west bound seven forty seven
Didn't think before deciding what to do
All that talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies
Rang true, sure rang true.

Seems it never rain in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya
It pours man it pours.

Out of work, I'm out of my head
Out of self respect I'm out of bread
I'm under loved I'm under fed
I wanna go home
It never rains in California
But girl don't they warn ya, it pours, man it pours.

Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it
Had offers but don't know which one to take
Please don't tell them how you found me
Don't tell them how you found me give me a break
Give me a break

Seems it never rains in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya
It pours man it pours


Later

[Gwreck]

What's the easiest job in the world?

Weatherman, in Los Angeles, California.

"...and now to John Smith, our weather guy. What's the weather going to be like John?"

"Ummm...nice. Back to you."

(Courtesy Lewis Black)

[Guest sharpie]

I think we can prolly get by with Perez for 4 innings or so and then ride the Oliver/Bradford/Felciano/Hernandez/Mota/Heilman/Wagner train the rest of the way.

[Theoldmole]

I'm not ready to concede a game with Perez starting.

[Guest cooby]

He'll do fine.

[MFS62]

sharpie wrote: I think we can prolly get by with Perez for 4 innings or so and then ride the Oliver/Bradford/Felciano/Hernandez/Mota/Heilman/Wagner train the rest of the way.

If Perez is pitching well for 4 innings, it would indicate he has command of his pitches and he can pitch longer.
If he is having problems, we'll see it way before then.
When he's hot, he's hot.
When he's not, he's not.

Later

[Guest vtmet]

Willie has 8 relievers at his disposal...knowing the way that Trax and Perez can discombobulate, I would assume that Willie will be poised with a shorter leash than he used on Maine...Perez has the stuff to no hit a team, but also has the Trax-like power to let his head get in the way, so Willie has 2 Jekkyl/Hyde's...could work out that they stay focused, but if not, we have: Darren Oliver; Bradford; Feliciano, Mota, Heilman, RoboCop, Wagner, Ring available...

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

In the past we've seen Perez go well for a few innings and then have the wheels fall off. In a playoff game, hopefully, he'd get yanked at the first sign of loose wheels.

Or maybe he'd make it through nine innings like he did in that one game against the Braves.

I'm really hoping, though, more than I would with a different pitcher scheduled for Sunday, that Trachsel and the Mets close this thing out on Saturday. We're sitting pretty right now, but that could change in a hurry.

[metirish]

It's all mute,Trax will deliver saturday,in 12 starts at Dodger Stadium he has won 3 and lost 6...4.74 ERA...has given up 12 home runs.....still I have faith.

[Guest Edgy DC]

With a 2-0 lead, I think Trax gets a longer leash than Maine.

Why fry the pen by trying to get extra innings out of them in am unlikely furious comeback, when the score is 0-0 again for a potential clincher tomorrow?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

It's funny, going into this series I was more afraid of Kuo, the 1-game winner, than I was of Greg Maddux. I think the Mets will score off Maddux. What remains to be seen is how well Trachsel holds the Dodgers. His September game against them was awful, but hopefully we won't see a repeat.

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: It's all mute.

So that means we're not allowed to talk about it?

[MFS62]

If it isn't raining, maybe Beltran will be able to see he is in an away city, and remember how well he hits in those places.

All I want is one of those so-called "Quality Starts" from Trax - 6+ IP and 3 ER or less. If he can deliver that, the Mets have a very good chance of not having to see what Perez could do in game 4.

Later

[Guest sharpie]

We'll have to see Perez at some point, whether in this series or the next.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

True. But I'm less comfortable seeing him in a best-of-five than I am a best-of-seven. If they can arrange it so that he only gets one start each in the NLCS and the World Series the risk is lessened somewhat.

If the Mets are able to win Game 3 tomorrow, they could open the NLCS with Glavine, Maine, and Trachsel and can defer Perez until Game 4.

[Centerfield]

I'm hoping that if the Mets advance, Omar wakes up before the NLCS and decides to go with Williams instead.

[soupcan]

"Ditto, Molly"

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Centerfield wrote: I'm hoping that if the Mets advance, Omar wakes up before the NLCS and decides to go with Williams instead.

That's an even better idea.

[Willets Point]

Is Perez really all that bad?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Willets Point wrote: Is Perez really all that bad?

Judge for yourself

Other than that September 6 game, and the shortened outing on October 1, his outings range from poor to awful.

[metirish]

Perez has great stuff and can look brilliant at times,other times he looks lost...like a lot of pitchers really.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

The shortened outing on Oct. 1 though looks exactly like WWSB would plan a start, perhaps because he learned something from the "awful" starts -- a few IIRC, included several lights-out innings and a total meltdown.

If Willie yanks Maine @ 4.1 IP, with 8 bullpenners and a chance to advance he'd surely not hesitate to do the same with Perez.

And really, I don't put it past Traxy, or a Mets O which hasn't truly broken out yet, to make this discussion academic.