Perez overcomes bad start

KANSAS CITY, MO.: It's probably not a stretch to say that Chris Perez made one of the more memorable debuts in major-league history.

Two days after being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals on June 27, Perez made his first appearance for the Indians. With a small gathering of 15,000-plus watching closely at Progressive Field, Perez trotted onto the field in the ninth inning with his team trailing the Chicago White Sox 2-0.

Perez quickly got the crowd's attention by hitting Alexei Ramirez with a pitch. Then he homed in on Jermaine Dye and nailed him, too. Before you knew it, the bases were loaded with nobody out, as Perez walked Jim Thome.
When the inning was over the Tribe trailed 6-0, and Perez was the talk of the talk shows.

Thinking back on his nightmarish beginning, Perez said: ''My first couple of outings, I was trying to do too much. I wanted to show everybody I could help out in the bullpen.

''I didn't realize it at first, but I was trying to throw 100 miles an hour, which I can't do. But I can throw 95. After that outing in Chicago I was thinking, 'This isn't working.' ''

That was two months ago. The way Perez has pitched since then, it seems longer. Erase that first outing from the data bank, and Perez has compiled a 1.08 ERA in 17 games, giving up two runs, nine hits and striking out 21 in 162/3 innings.

In his past 15 appearances going into Monday night's game against the Kansas City Royals, Perez has refused to allow a run, yielding only five hits in 151/3 innings.

''After that Chicago outing, I figured I had one foot out the door,'' Perez said. ''I don't care who you are traded for, if you don't get guys out, you're out the door. So that streak has helped me a lot.''

Perez's new bosses, including manager Eric Wedge, aren't surprised by his success. He has a live arm and likes to get the ball. The hurdle he had to overcome was avoiding walks.

''Something just clicked in the last month or two,'' Perez said. ''I've been zoning in on the target and hitting it. My mechanics feel good. I'm repeating my delivery. That's one of the things I struggled with last year.''

Perez became St. Louis' closer last August because of injuries and non performance of a couple of his bullpen brethren. When the season was over, he was told he would compete for the same job in spring training. But when Perez missed a couple of weeks in camp with a shoulder injury, his rivals passed him by.

''I just feel like they thought I couldn't do the job,'' he said. ''In their defense, I wasn't pitching like this.''

Perez has not abandoned his ambition to be a closer.

''That's the goal sometime in my career,'' he said. ''It's probably not going to be this year or next, because we have Kerry Wood. But that's what I'm shooting for.''



(ohio.com)