Oliver Perez Walks All Over the Dodgers

Oliver Perez was masterful in his return to the Mets.

Let's not get too excited here. Sure, the Mets won their first game since May. But let's keep it in perspective. Hell, Gary Sheffield couldn't get excited enough to slide into home plate as he narrowly scored an important run in the third. You'd have to think the odds were the Mets would catch a fly again, score a run again this season, win a game again this season.

And there was nothing impressive in this win. Perez managed only 55 strikes for 108 pitches in 5 innings. He walked 7 Dodgers and somehow got the win. Church's flailing un-catch on Matt Kemp's "triple" in the 8th. Had the game been a little longer (say, 10 innings), it looks like the pen would've eventually given all the runs back, Frank the Closer begin to do in the 9th, throwing three fastballs right into Manny's happy place. It's a blow against all mankind's scientific achievements that Perez is unfixable. There is no way to get out from under Oliver Perez' contract, but you'd think Sterling Inc. would have the sense to try.

There were some fun things. Daniel Murphy took a first step towards erasing some of the memories of his defense with his circus throw in the 7th to nail Mark Loretta. But in a crazy, unfair world where Steve Lyons, one of America's dumbest morons, has published a book and I haven't, I'm going to reserve going bonkers over this team again til 2010.