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Mets' Perez beats Yankees again

Jun 29, 2008 - 10:21 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Oliver Perez may be maddeningly inconsistent at times. But when he faces the New York Yankees, he continues to be consistently effective.

Perez allowed one run and three hits over seven innings as the New York Mets salvaged the finale of the last Subway Series game at Shea Stadium with a 3-1 victory Sunday over the Yankees.

Carlos Delgado homered and Luis Castillo had three hits for the Mets, who won four of the six meetings with the Yankees and claimed the season series for the second time since interleague play began in 1997.

The Mets' only two losses against the Yankees this year came here the previous two days, when they were outscored, 12-2, with Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana on the mound.

The Mets did not score much for Perez (6-5), but the three runs they pushed across were enough for the erratic lefthander.

Perez improved to 5-1 in six career starts against the Yankees. Since becoming a Met in 2006, he has held the Yankees to five runs and 16 hits over 30 innings in four starts and this one came on a day in which they started a mostly righthanded lineup.

"I was trying to do my best," Perez said. "I know they have a really hard lineup. You have to make pitches. I was just focusing on any hitter (I faced)."

"No doubt, he established himself with a good rhythm, a good tempo, threw strikes, threw breaking balls from behind the count for strikes," Mets interim manager Jerry Manuel added. "I thought that was really big, Big-game Ollie, I guess. Hopefully, we can continue to get that from him."

His latest win over the Yankees came after another outing that epitomized his inconsistency. Just five days ago, the Seattle Mariners - the worst team in the American League - roughed up Perez for six runs and seven hits in five innings.

In this one, Perez retired the first 10 batters before Derek Jeter singled in the fourth. After Jeter's hit, Perez set down the next seven before Johnny Damon singled with two outs in the sixth.

"He's been tough against us," Damon said. "He has been really sharp against us. Sliders are extra sharp, fastballs have a little bit more life on it. The times we've seen him, he's been really good."

Perez displayed some different mechanics that he worked on during his bullpen session between starts with new pitching coach Dan Warthen. It impacted his foot movement on the rubber, which Manuel felt made a big difference.

"We've tried some different things and what has happened in the past is that they would last for maybe one inning or two innings," Manuel said. "But this adjustment that he made today seemed to carry throughout the game, which I think we should expect the next time he takes the ball."

Before applying what he did in the bullpen session, Perez had won one of his previous seven starts since his outstanding performance at Yankee Stadium on May 18.

"He threw a lot of strikes," Mets catcher Brian Schneider said. "We all know he's capable of doing it."

Perez's biggest challenge was a fourth-inning at-bat to Alex Rodriguez. who was representing the potential tying run. He fell behind the reigning AL Most Valuable Player, but the slugger fouled off four straight pitches before striking out.

"He was ahead in the count most of the day," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He was able to get ahead. He was able to get us to chase some sliders. He was able to throw his sliders for strikes, too. He's always had the ability to be really tough. He's got good stuff."

Perez lost his shutout bid when Wilson Betemit homered well over the left field bleachers with two outs in the seventh. He then had to face the tying run as Melky Cabrera reached on shortstop Jose Reyes' throwing error.

But Reyes' miscue did not cost the Mets, as Perez retired Jose Molina on a flyout, ending his day at 106 pitches. Perez tied a season high with eight strikeouts and did not issue a walk for the first time since September 22.

Pedro Feliciano retired the side in the eighth and Billy Wagner allowed a ninth-inning leadoff single to Jeter, who advanced on a wild pitch.

The lefthanded closer settled down and retired Rodriguez on a flyout to left that might have been aided by the wind blowing in. Wagner then retired Jorge Posada on a groundout and recorded his 18th save in 23 opportunities by striking out Betemit.

Yankees starter Darrell Rasner (4-6) lasted five innings and allowed two runs and eight hits en route to his sixth loss in seven games.

The Mets, who improved to 6-6 under Manuel, scored their first run with two outs in the second when Castillo barely beat Jeter's throw from shortstop for an RBI infield single. They added another run when Delgado's 14th home run went off the right-center field scoreboard and took a three-run lead in the sixth when David Wright lifted a sacrifice fly off Yankees reliever David Robertson.