For one game.Oliver Perez, who is coming off his best performance of the year, a seven inning, three hit performance against the Yankees, is now slated to pitch Wednesday or Thursday against the Cardinals out of the bullpen.
Pitching coach Dan Warthen and manager Jerry Manuel are trying to split up the lefty/lefty of Johan Santana and Perez. Perez will pitch against St. Louis from the bullpen before being moved back into the rotation next Sunday against the Phillies.
John Maine will slide in between Santana and Perez, stopping the two lefties from throwing on consecutive days.
The Mets rotation for the next two series will be:
6/30: John Maine @ STL
7/1: Tony Armas Jr. @ STL
7/2: Pedro Martinez @ STL
7/3:Mike Pelfrey @ STL
7/4: Johan Santana @ PHI
7/5: John Maine @ PHI
7/6: Oliver Perez @ PHI
7/7: Pedro Martinez @ PHI
Interesting plan for the rotation. I think these two should be split up, and it's interesting the way they're going about it. Good to keep Perez fresh though.
It's interesting that Perez may pitch again on Pedro's day on the bump. Obviously this couldn't have been planned, but with the way Martinez has been throwing of late, it might be a sign of things to come.