Live from the ballpark: It's BPO Night
Greetings from Coca-Cola Field, where we'll be providing live updates on Oliver Perez's rehab start as the Bisons host the Rochester Red Wings in front of what should be nearly a full house.
They've been working feverishly on left field all day and it's playable after Thursday's drainage fiasco caused a postponement. Playable but verrrrrry ugly. Looks like scorched earth after a brush fire out there. They tried to spray paint it green but no dice. Let's see how the footing is when the LFs have to trudge through that section of grass, especially after we had about 25 minutes of rain.
They're going to start tonight's game at 6:20, about 15 minutes late.
I'd bet Perez will go about six innings and around 90 pitches or so. After Tim Redding struggled yesterday in Pittsburgh, the prevailing theory is Perez will go back into the rotation Wednesday night against the Dodgers if all goes well here tonight. The game is on Time Warner Cable 13, and so are all four games over the next three days between the teams in Rochester's Frontier Field.
Here's the Buffalo lineup:
Cory Sullivan, cf
Jesus Feliciano, lf
Chip Ambres, rf
Emil Brown, dh
Mike Lamb, 3b
Javier Castillo, ss
Michel Abreu, 1b
Robinson Cancel, c
Wilson Valdez, 2b
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
---
Mid-1st: You've heard the phrase "Manny Being Manny"? In New York, they like to refer to the two shades of Perez as "Good Ollie, Bad Ollie." We just saw both. He quickly retired the first two hitters on last fly balls to left, then walked the next two on 10 pitches. He got out of the inning on Danny Valencia's fielder's choice grounder to second, which came on a 93-mph fastball that was Perez's hardest of the inning. Most everything was in the 90-91 range. Total: 19 pitches, 9 strikes.
End 1st: No score as Jesus Feliciano is thrown out at second trying to steal. Brutal call by umpire Manny Gonzalez but we're used to that. Not the best season for IL umpires.
Mid-2nd: A 1-2-3 inning for Perez with two flyballs to center and a strikeout. Took 15 pitches. Top velocity at 93. Everything consistently at 90-92. Total: 34 pitches, 19 strikes.
End 2nd: The game remains scoreless with Feliciano's first-inning single the only hit for either side. This place has pretty well filled in and that's unusual. On BPO night, you often don't see it too packed until the 7:30-8 p.m. range as people come for a little baseball but really want to see the whole concert/fireworks show.
Mid-3rd: Tougher inning for Perez, whose control has been iffy. He gave up an opposite-field double to left to Jason Pridie (90 mph fastball) and walked Alexi Casilla. But he got out of the inning by fanning Steve Tolleson on an 80-mph changeup and got out of the inning as Pridie was thrown out trying to steal third on strike three. Through three innings: 52 pitches, 25 strikes. 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K.
End-3rd: The Bisons take a 1-0 lead on Cory Sullivan's infield single between the mound and third that scores Robinson Cancel, who worked a one-out walk and went first to third on Wilson Valdez's perfect hit-and-run single over second.
Mid-4th: Perez escaped another inning on just one hit but the folks at Citi Field were probably holding their breath as he fell off the mound oddly on a delivery to Trevor Plouffe. Looked like Perez caught a spike but he was OK after that. Totals: 63-32. 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K. I'm underwhelmed.
End 4th: Herd still up 1-0. Rochester starter Jeff Manship escaped trouble with a self-preservation catch of Mike Lamb's liner near his eardrum and turned it into a double play, easily catching Emil Brown off second.
Mid-5th: The Wings get on the board off Perez on Rob Macri's first-pitch home run to left on an 89-mph offering. Perez gets out with another walk and strikeouts. He's at 81 pitches, 40 strikes. 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K. In other news, the BPO is going to announce a 5-year extension after the game through 2014 and I have spies out there telling me the concession lines are again a "joke" this year. The Bisons HAVE TO BE BETTER as I said earlier today.
Top-6th: Figure this is Ollie's last inning as Kyle Snyder is up in the bullpen. And two batters in, that's it as back-to-back doubles to left-center by Justin Huber and Danny Valencia put the Wings up, 2-1. Perez steps back off the mound and waves at manager Ken Oberkfell but there's no choice here. Perez is out. He pounds the ball in the glove and jogs off the mound, doffing his cap to the fans behind the dugout. 92 pitches/46 strikes. Yuck. Left with his runner at second. Final line to come.
Kyle Snyder gives up David Winfree's RBI single to make it 3-1 and give Perez a final line of 5+ innings, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K...
Mid-7th: Rochester still leads, 3-1, at the seventh-inning stretch. Apologies in advance if the live blog goes quiet for a spell. Oliver Perez will be made available to the media in the next 10 minutes before the end of the game, kind of like is done in big-league spring training. So I will have to go downstairs to get his comments before returning for the final couple innings hopefully.
The word from Ollie: The Wings lead, 4-1, in the bottom of the eighth. Perez seemed oddly satisifed with his outing and pronounced himself ready to go if the Mets, in fact, want to start him Wednesday. he wasn't fazed by throwing the same number of strikes as balls (46).
On the outing in general: "The most important thing is I'm feeling real good and I'm not thinking about my knee. I was feeling really strong. I think I'm ready. I was a little wild but more important I feel strong.
"Today the key was not thinking about the knee but thinking about a real game. I tried to feel the pressure and make it feel like a big-league game. I feel really good. I showed emotion because I don't like to lose."
On starting Wednesday: "That's not my decision. I threw almost 100 pitches and I'm ready to go but i don't know what they're going to decide. You tell me to go tomorrow, I'm ready to go tomorrow."
On the road back since April: "I'm really excited and happy with everything I've been doing. That's not easy being hurt and seeing your team having problems. Today it's 7-0. It's one of those times you want to get there and help. I don't like to lose. When I'm here and Port St. Lucie and I see them lose, I feel bad because I'm part of the team. I felt real aggressive. I didn't like when somebody gets hits. I liked this game and I like to show I like to compete."
Perez added that he was happy to use his changeup much more than he has in the past, giving up another weapon to go with his fastball and slider.
But seriously now, he couldn't throw strikes against the Rochester Red Wings. What's going to happen against Manny & Co.? You wonder if he's going to be at Citi Field Wednesday or back here against Wednesday against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Heading to the bottom of the 9th: Another mind-numbing game as the Herd trails, 4-1. A crowd of 17,380 had the misfortune to see it.
It's mercifully over: The Bisons lose, 6-2.
Kate, the viola section was awesome!
Posted by: Barb | July 06, 2009 at 02:49 PM
During the next Friday Night Bash they can paint that rusting light standard out in center left field. That way the Bison fans can watch the paint dry and have something to cheer about.
Posted by: Bbburbs | July 04, 2009 at 10:43 PM
Mike:
The field conditions for Pilot Field have gone down every year, especially the drainage issues. Not the first time. You would suspect that a first class AAA facility could drain itself, even with the rain we had. Doesn’t seem to affect Rochester or Syracuse.
Posted by: Ralph from Amherst | July 04, 2009 at 01:22 AM
I can't wait to read what you think about the viola section tonight.
Posted by: Kate | July 03, 2009 at 06:53 PM