Outstanding Ollie
By Joe

I am not a Mets fan but I imagine there are few situations in life scarier than watching Oliver Perez trot out to the mound in a National League Championship Series game.

But that's exactly what happened last year when the Mets, short on starting pitching thanks to injuries to Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, handed the ball over to a guy that had a 2-10 record with a plus-6.00 ERA.

When I first heard the news that Perez would be starting in the NLCS, I didn't believe it. Wasn't this the same Oliver Perez who, after his outstanding 2004 season where he went 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 239 strikeouts, fell completely off the wagon by posting ERAs around 6 in back-to-back seasons? The same Oliver Perez who combined to go 10-18 in 2005 and 2006? The same Oliver Perez whose strikeout-to-walk ratio was less than 1.5/1?

Amazingly, Perez responded with four solid innings allowing just one run and striking out four. The big left hander only walked one batter.

Most people figured the Mets were lucky Perez didn't completely explode and give up 12 runs in that NLCS game in October. I was one of them. But looking back on that start, maybe New York's front office knew something we didn't.

Fast forward to Sunday in Milwaukee and you see a very different Oliver Perez. Sure, he has the same goofy looking windup. And he's still got that lanky build. But this Oliver Perez didn't have any of the control problems that haunted him the past two years. This Oliver Perez worked ahead in the count and stayed away from the dreaded big inning, another staple of his 2005 and 2006 seasons. This Oliver Perez worked into the ninth, yielding just one run, two hits, striking out six and walking just two. For 2007, his ERA is is now 3.00, his WHIP is under 1.20 and he's struck out 43 batters in 42 innings.

In the past two years Perez has had isolated strong outings like the one against Milwaukee Sunday, but he's never been able to string together a streak of dominance since 2004. But in 2007, it finally appears Perez has turned the corner. He's had only one terrible start and another where he was the victim of poor fielding. Other than those two outings, Perez has been excellent.

Perez may even be better this year than in 2004. That year, Perez's Achilles' heel was his high number of walks. He gave up 81 free passes in just 196 innings. But his WHIP was still a minuscule 1.15, which is quite low for a guy that walked so many batters. Despite all the walks, Perez only allowed 145 hits that year. When he got beat, it wasn't because the opposing team was teeing off on his pitches. It was usually because Perez couldn't find the plate.

Entering this season, Perez had to lower his walk count. Now that he's successfully done that, he's teetering on being a dominant pitcher again. Perez still has great stuff and now that he's stopped walking everyone, he's finding himself in far fewer jams than the past few years.

And that's the major reason he's been so tough in 2007.

Perez still has his hiccups. On April 11, he walked seven and lasted just 2 2/3 innings en route to picking up the loss. But for the most part, Perez has consistently stayed away from ball four. And that's allowed him to become a very good pitcher.

Will Perez keep up his impressive start? Time will tell. But if he does return to his 2004 form all season, the ramifications in the National League will be monumental. The Mets will have a no. 3 starter that is pitching like a no. 1 starter. And that addition, coupled with an already good rotation, strong bullpen and potent offense, might be enough to get the Mets into the World Series.