Memories of �liver P�rez Mart�nez

[Guest The Second Spitter]

I don't believe it.

Thanks for pitching a fantastic Game 7 Ollie. I wish it turned out better.

[metirish]

There were few happier sights than seeing Ollie hop over the chalk after getting another out.....it was so long ago though.

[Guest themetfairy]

The most persistent memory is watching him walk in the winning run in extra innings during the last game of the season. From that point on, whenever I thought of him, it was with a four letter word in front of his name.

Here he is, leaving Citi Field as a Met for the final time -

[G-Fafif]

Positives: Threw some great games in '07 and '08 against the Braves and the MFYs.

Most glaring negative (besides the not agreeing to go to Buffalo for a few weeks): Batting practice for the Diamondbacks on HOF day last August 1. From there it was clear we were just marking time.

No. 6 on the depth chart wound up pitching Game 7, and we didn't suffer for it. All those glimpses and teases and flat out good performances is what made the Blassification of Oliver Perez so horrifying to view.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

2008 vs the Yankees and Phillies:

40.2 IP, 23 H, 39 K, 13 BB, 35 TB, 4 R

[Guest The Second Spitter]

http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2007/04/22/ollie-bomaye/

[G-Fafif]

http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2007/04/22/ollie-bomaye/

Ah, you read my mind.

I was fond of this moment in time, too. Goes off in other directions, but recounting Perez outdueling the last MFY incarnation of Clemens was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

I still believe he would have been a different pitcher if he had won the NL Cy Young when he rightfully should have. I remember reading an article circa 2006 to this effect. Pity I can't find the article online.

[seawolf17]

Pitched HUGE in big spots, otherwise largely worthless. One of the great Met enigmas. I look forward to him winning a Cy Young Award with Cleveland in 2016.

[ashie62]

I will remember Ollie is being the best "second tier" starter available as a free agent when Minaya signed him.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Because Bucket is too choked up to type at the moment, he's thinking :

You were my greatest 46.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Hopefully he'll be remembered for the way he stepped up in Game 7, 2006 NLCS. But I don't think that will happen. I think he'll mostly be remembered for the three-year contract and its aftermath.

[MFS62]

He was either very good or very bad.
And you never knew which he would be on a given day.
Later

[HahnSolo]

seawolf17 wrote: Pitched HUGE in big spots, otherwise largely worthless. One of the great Met enigmas. I look forward to him winning a Cy Young Award with Cleveland in 2016.

Some not-huge moments in big spots too:

2007 final start, the first of the season-ending 3-game series with the Marlins. The division heading into the game is tied. Ollie's line:

3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB

2008, next to last start against the Cubs at Shea (the game mostly remembered for Wright not getting Murphy in from 3rd base with nobody out):

4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 BB

This one infuriated me, as after Delgado hits a GS to give Mets a 5-1 lead, Ollie gave it right back.
He also pitched the finale that year, and went 5.1 IP with 2 ER. Not terrible, but not huge.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That Cubs game will always stick with me. Not in an Ollie sense so much as I think it represented the death of the would-be 06 renaissance, the death of Shea Stadium, and the figurative shark over which the franchise jumped. I haven't felt the same about the Mets since. To be honest I've kind of been mad at them and feel like they deserve so much of the suffering they've endured.

Ollie was exciting, having the potential to be spectacular any night and overpower good hitters. I was in favor of bringing him back.

Now I think I'll remember him along with Ambiorix Burgos as the kind of high-potential arms that so attracted Omar only to burn him. Also, Jerry's Doghouse, which did him, the Mets and Ollie no favors.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

That actually reminds me of the last game of 08, where the bullpen was shot to bits and they needed somebody to go deep. Ollie ran up a ridiculous pitch count and was pulled after 5.1.

Afterwards Jerry said: "Oliver Perez gave us a great shot, but we couldn't get it done. We couldn't get it done."

Soon after that his fat contract followed.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Twentieth all-time in Metly strikeouts with 494.

Tied for 32nd in wins with Ray Sadecki and Bret Saberhagen, with 29.

Seventeenth in walks, with 301.

[metsmarathon]

it was still a good trade at the time, i think.

the re-signing, on the other hand...

[Guest Edgy DC]

It was definitely the sort of hamfisted deal that a GM does to maintain a regime, belying the creative impulses it took to build one.

[Guest themetfairy]

Ollie's Last Day as a Met at Citi Field

I post with a Creative Commons License, so all I ask is for a photo credit if anyone decides to repost any of these pix.

[Gwreck]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That Cubs game will always stick with me. Not in an Ollie sense so much as I think it represented the death of the would-be 06 renaissance, the death of Shea Stadium, and the figurative shark over which the franchise jumped. I haven't felt the same about the Mets since. To be honest I've kind of been mad at them and feel like they deserve so much of the suffering they've endured.

How depressing. Yet I agree 98%.
Went back and looked at that game. Top of the 10th, Luis Ayala retires the first two batters before allowing, in order, single, double and home run. Mets lose 9-6.

[seawolf17]

Gwreck wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That Cubs game will always stick with me. Not in an Ollie sense so much as I think it represented the death of the would-be 06 renaissance, the death of Shea Stadium, and the figurative shark over which the franchise jumped. I haven't felt the same about the Mets since. To be honest I've kind of been mad at them and feel like they deserve so much of the suffering they've endured. How depressing. Yet I agree 98%. Went back and looked at that game. Top of the 10th, Luis Ayala retires the first two batters before allowing, in order, single, double and home run. Mets lose 9-6.

That was my last in-person Shea Stadium experience. Got there when they opened the gates, spent hours just soaking it all in.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Gwreck wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That Cubs game will always stick with me. Not in an Ollie sense so much as I think it represented the death of the would-be 06 renaissance, the death of Shea Stadium, and the figurative shark over which the franchise jumped. I haven't felt the same about the Mets since. To be honest I've kind of been mad at them and feel like they deserve so much of the suffering they've endured. How depressing. Yet I agree 98%. Went back and looked at that game. Top of the 10th, Luis Ayala retires the first two batters before allowing, in order, single, double and home run. Mets lose 9-6.

Bears repeating that the Cubs had absolutely nothing to play for. They'd already assured their spot in the postseason and were going about resting their starters. Losing this game was like what it'd feel like had we blown that 20-inning debacle last spring. I was in a black, black mood that night.

[Chad ochoseis]

The Ollie trade - making some sweet lemonade out of the punch to the lemons that was the Duaner Sanchez injury - was probably Omar's finest moment.

The 2008 signing was probably his worst. Though I admit that I liked it at the time. The choices were to sign Ollie, sign Derek Lowe, or raise the white flag. In the winter of 2008, Ollie looked like the best option of the three.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Other coourageous options would be to trust your system to produce a replacement or trust your scouts to find one.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That offseason including some of the most wasteful uses of the Met resources so as almost to seem paranoid.

[list:1ecqaunb][*:1ecqaunb]The Rodriguez siginging.[/*:m:1ecqaunb]
[*:1ecqaunb]The Heilman/Chavez/Smith/Vargas/Carp/Carrera/Cleto-for-Putz/Green/Jeremy Reed trade.[/*:m:1ecqaunb]
[*:1ecqaunb]The Schoeneweiss signing.[/*:m:1ecqaunb]
[*:1ecqaunb]The Perez signing.[/*:m:1ecqaunb][/list:u:1ecqaunb]

[G-Fafif]

• The Rodriguez siginging.
• The Heilman/Chavez/Smith/Vargas/Carp/Carrera/Cleto-for-Putz/Green/Jeremy Reed trade.
• The Schoeneweiss signing.
• The Perez signing.

Edgy DC wrote: That offseason including some of the most wasteful uses of the Met resources so as almost to seem paranoid.

Schoeneweis was let go that offseason.

[G-Fafif]

Perhaps you're thinking Tim Redding?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Or failing to think entirely.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Gambling on a few one-year recovery projects-- then trading for midseason help as appropriate-- might have worked, too.

Really, more than anything, I just feel cheated out of our rightful 8-walk no-hitter in a loss. I was sure that was coming sometime.

Thanks for the fantasy help in 2004, big guy.