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Perez attempts to continue torrid pitching stretch

Aug 14, 2008 - 10:03 AM NY Mets (64-56) at Washington (44-77) 7:10pm ET

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The New York Mets came through with their best offensive performance in six weeks on Wednesday. However, with the way Oliver Perez has been going, they may not require a similar outburst on Thursday.

Perez aims to continue his post-All-Star break surge when the Mets seek to complete a sweep of the Washington Nationals.

With its 12-0 rout of Washington on Wednesday, New York won for the fifth time in seven games.

While that kind of support would be refreshing for Perez (8-7, 3.90 ERA), he has managed to do just fine without it since the end of June, a span of nine starts. Despite receiving 2.22 runs of support in that time, the lefthander has managed to go 3-2 and leads the majors with a 1.71 ERA since June 29.

Perez was at his best again on Friday, collecting the win for the second time in three starts after yielding two hits and three walks over seven innings in a 3-0 victory over Florida, striking out eight Marlins in the process.

While the Mets exploded on Wednesday, the league-worst Washington offense was shut out for the league-high 18th time.

That may not be good news considering rookie Collin Balester (2-4, 4.66) hopes to halt a stretch that has seen him drop four of his last five decisions. The righthander received no help from the league's worst offense in Friday's 5-0 setback, taking the loss against the Milwaukee Brewers after permitting four runs - three runs - and five hits over five frames.