Oh, Ollie!

I didn’t realize how much I missed Oliver Perez. Perez got the call in the seventh inning of Monday night’s loss to the Braves — his first appearance since August 1st. Could it have really been nearly a month since Perez took the mound for the Mets? It seemed like yesterday he was getting shelled for four runs in two innings in a 14-1 blowout against the Diamondbacks. But no, it was a month ago.

Perez didn’t disappoint in this latest appearance, serving up a massive home run to the first batter he faced, Brian McCann. Perez also walked two, but was able to get out of the inning allowing just the one run.

But then came the big disappointment — when the bottom of the eighth rolled around, Ryota Iragashi was standing on the mound. I wanted to see more of Perez. I wanted to see how just how bad he could be. Since the Mets were going to lose anyway, why not lose huge with the entertaining Perez on the mound?

Maybe Jerry Manuel thought leaving Perez in and finishing with a 15-3 loss rather than 9-3 would cost him his job. But his job is lost already. I think he is going to be fired sometime this week. It has nothing to do with Jeff Wilpon accompanying the team to Atlanta. Rather, firing Manuel will give fans the perception that the Mets are actually doing something to improve the team, and then perhaps fans will show up at Citi Field for meaningless games in September.

Maybe getting rid of Manuel this late in the season will fire-up the Mets and spark a huge run. It worked for the Brewers in 2008, costing the Mets the wild card after they collapsed. Ah, who are we kidding? Things like that only happen to the Mets, not for them.