I bet professional sportswriters dream for days like today. The last regular season game at Shea Stadium will be one played with fire and brimstone as the Mets are on the line for the postseason. Win and then we see what the Brewers do, lose and then we have to pray. There are so many things going on, so many emotions and they will all be heading to Flushing tomorrow. Will it be the last game at Shea? Will there be many more this season? It all comes down to this. 161 games down to one game and then possibly another game. Taking the mound on this historic day for the fish will be Olsen, and he will be dueling the always on the edge of seat Perez.
Olsen, 8-11, has pitched 195.2 innings and has an ERA of 4.23. He will most likely tommorow reach the 200 innings in a season plateu for the first time in his career. In his last five games he has a 2-3 record, 30.1 innings, and an ERA 4.45. In his last start against the Mets he lasted 6.1 innings and allowed 6 runs. In 2008 against Mets, he has seen them 4 times, has a record of 0-3, pitched 22 innings, and has had an ERA of 6.95. Here are some Mets stats against Olsen:
Reyes 14-32, 4 2B, 3B, HR
Beltran 12-27, 3 2B, 3 HR, 5 BB
Wright 9-29, 4 2B, 3 HR
Evans 6-10, 2B, HR
Ramon Martinez 3-6
The Mets can hit him. Look at those numbers. The Mets offense has not been here the last two days, but it was here the couple of games before that. The Mets have not faced a pitcher that they have experience against yet this series against the Marlins but that changes tommorow. They have seen him, they know him, and now they need to act.
Perez, 10-7, has been really rocky as of late. On the season he has pitched 188.2 innings, and has an ERA of 4.25. In his last five, he is 1-0 over 27.1 innigns and an ERA of 6.26. That being said, 6 games ago, he faced the Marlins and lasted 6 innings, alllowed 3 hits, 2 R, 1 earned run, 5 BB and 4. On the season against the fish, he has faced them 5 times already and is 3-0. He has pitched 31 innings and has a cool ERA of 2.03 with 16 BB and 32 K's.
Ramierez 8-30
Ross 9-25, 2 2B, 3B, 3 HR
Willingham 7-20, 2B, 3 HR
Uggla 6-26, 2 2B
The main thing for Perez is for him to keep the walks to the mininum. When he does that he, he is fine. He has been doing that against the Fish this year with 2 K's per BB. If he does that, then he will be successful. Last time against the fish, he walked a lot, but he was able to get through it. In 2006, the Mets called on Perez to lead them in the all important Game 7 of the NLCS. He was in the middle of a terrible, terrible year. He came out that night and he was on fire and he was brilliant. He can do that again. He needs to do that tommorow. Lets Go Mets! Lets Make the Playoffs!
