Oliver Perez is the owner of the most enigmatic and frustrating arm in the Mets rotation; lately you expect the worst but never know when you might see his dominant side.   Sunday in the “Dirt Match” against the Yankees, Perez was completely in control of the game for seven surprising innings.  (”Dirt Match” is a phrase I’m trying to establish for the final game of a four game series when one team is fighting for the split, “dirt” being less solid footing than “rubber”).  It’s odd how Perez can go from averaging close to a walk an inning with a 5.29 ERA and then suddenly turn it on and scatter three hits and no walks in a big game.  Does it have to be all or nothing, can’t he bottle some of that excellence and just be a capable pitcher most of the time?

I suppose the answer is that Perez has great stuff but can only control it once in a while.  Sunday his location was spot on, it was great watching him frustrate A-Rod in the seventh with a well placed fastball, tempting enough to swing at but a near miss resulting in a mile high popup. Or getting Melky Cabrera to strike out on a breaking pitch that bounced a foot in front of home plate in the fifth.

Jose Reyes continues to confound Mets fans with his childish on-field antics, even as he regains his role as the catalyst at the top of the order.  In the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh Sunday a “Reyes run” was traded for a Reyes tantrum.  After a manufactured run on a single, wild pitch and sac fly, Reyes had dirt on every part of his uniform from all his sliding and avoiding pickoffs while rounding the bases.  Moments later this commendable hustle is offset by a reaction to a throwing error.  Reyes seemed to feel Carlos Delgado could have done a lot better catching the ball, and a pouting glove-throwing fit ensued.

I actually had the YES version of the game on at that point and it was classic to hear the Yankee broadcasters rip into Reyes.  Michael Kay, never one to let professionalism get in the way of a snappy one liner, shared some rhetorical Q and A with: “is this a hissy fit?” [shows the video of the glove throw] “I think that’s a hissy fit.”  I looked in several dictionaries and they all define a “hissy fit” simply as a tantrum, so I really am impressed that Kay knows enough about the subject to distinguish hissy fits from regular fits even if Noah Webster can’t.  David Cone and Ken Singleton were also more than happy to pile on the “strictly selfish” Reyes, who “still has some maturing to do,” despite “how many years in the big leagues? Five??”  Not that I disagree mind you but the “sour grapes” announcing style is funny.

Of course Reyes also might have cost the Mets the game Saturday when he got picked off straying too far from second to cancel out a threat in a 3-2 nailbiter.  Nevertheless I was displeased with Johan Santana’s calling out of teammates.  A pitcher always has to try to allow at least one fewer run than the opponents, whether that opponent has scored one run or seven.  So for Santana to say he “did his job” by allowing only three runs is false.  On this day his job was to allow only one run because his team would only score two.  An ace of the staff such as Santana should be able to give his team confidence even if the run support is not there.  Santana saying he “did his job” works contrary to the principles of Run Support Karma, which state that complaining about run support makes matters worse.  I think if Santana had only discussed his own responsibility in allowing three runs it’s a lot more inspiring to the offense to want to produce for him than the complaining is.

The two most optimistic things you could say about the Mets are that they are hanging around in the NL East and they do show occasional flashes of brilliance.  Philly continues a cold hitting slide and the Mets, despite a 40-41 mark are now only three games behind their rivals.  Indeed a recent dumbing down of the entire National League has resulted in only four teams in the league possessing a winning record as of tonight.  The door is still ajar for the Mets and they have the skills to open it if they don’t slam it in their own face first. 

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