Aftermath: Mets vs Braves (04/21/2007)

Mets 7, Braves 2

(Source: fangraphs.com - what's this?)

Oliver Perez's pitching line:

 IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR   PC-ST   GS
6.2   9   2   2   9   9   0   98-72   57

Kool-Aid! Kool-Aid! Kool-Aid!

I don't know what Rick Peterson told Oliver Perez during his nine day hiatus from real game play, but that little fella who took the mound for the Mets yesterday afternoon was most definitely not the same guy who completely and utterly melted down two weeks ago against the Phillies. He was confident, he was throwing all of his pitches for strikes, and he was dominating. He seemed to run out of gas a bit in the seventh, but he allowed just six hits through six innings and, more importantly, was a picture of control. Two particular bits of awesomeness:

• He threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes (73%)
• He struck out nine and walked zero

Undoubtedly, the key for Perez will be consistency. He has alternated good-bad-good starts, so he's really going to have to focus this week, because we all know that the freakish lack of control could return at any time. Nobody expects him to throw like he did on Saturday every time out, but as long as he can keep the walks to a minimum, his stuff will take care of the rest.

The Braves threatened a couple of times, but overall the Mets really controlled the game from start to finish. They jumped all over Chuck James, a good sign that this team doesn't share last year's ineptness against southpaws (the beatdown of Dontrelle Willis earlier in the week is further support for that thesis). David Wright extended his hitless streak to two games, but Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran do nothing but hit, so even with Carlos Delgado continuing to swing his swiss cheese bat the Mets' offense is in pretty good shape.

Mr. Met:

• Hitting: Carlos Beltran, 14.7% WPA
• Pitching: Oliver Perez, 25.5% WPA

Mr. Regret:

• Hitting: Shawn Green, -8.3% WPA
• Pitching: Scott Schoeneweis, -1.2% WPA