Ollie

This guy was awesome. Perez pounded the strike zone, hit the corners, varied his sliders, and even used a few splitters. His velocity was back up a touch from the end of last year too, if I remember right. Very impressive.

Looking back, last year Perez did the same thing in his first start too, dominating Atlanta. But then in his second start he had that awful seven walk outing against Philly and couldn't get out of the 3rd inning. I don't think that will happen again this year. Perez had a good season in '07 and Mr. Peterson, with that creepy look he gives his pitchers, might have helped. Ollie did see his walks increase and his velocity dropped (if I remember correctly) around mid-August. Is it possible he tired a bit? Sure. He's still only 26, hard to believe, and has had quite an up and down career so far.

*Schwenny prediction update: my AL Cy Young candidate didn't get the win against the Yankees on opening night thanks to the 315ft pop-up that the "Melk-Man delivered", just barely getting over the Jeffrey Maier fence in Yankee Stadium rightfield. That ball wouldn't have gotten out of any high school field I've ever seen and I'm pretty sure that Mets-Thing contributor 'Turn a Quick Two' could throw a baseball further. But, you know, it's the 'House that Ruth Built', built specifically so he could hit Home Runs easier.

*If you look up Jeffrey Maier on wikipedia (like I just did so I could spell his name right), on the bottom of the page it says, "See also: Steve Bartman". Fucking Bartman. Strange how these two fan interference guys are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. I wonder if the Marlins fans feel the same way about Bartman that the Yankees fans feel about Maier? Oh yeah, the Marlins don't have any fans.

*Dan Uggla was back to his old form at secondbase Wednesday night.

*Ryan Church is a real man. He will throw you out on a line from the fence and then drop a bomb on you in the next inning. He also recorded his own rap album after the game.

*David Wright can mash. And Carlos Delgado, well, he can't anymore.