March 30, 200521 yr Marlins' Perisho cherishes being lone lefty By Juan C. Rodriguez STAFF WRITER Posted March 30 2005 JUPITER -- Matt Perisho finished last season as the only lefty in the Marlins' bullpen. After Tuesday's roster moves, it appears he'll start this season with the same distinction. The Marlins sent right-hander Travis Smith and left-handers Jim Crowell and Les Walrond to minor league camp, leaving Perisho as their only viable lefty for relief duty. Rule 5 pick Luke Hagerty remains in the fold, but he is coming back from a finger injury and not a 25-man roster candidate. If the Marlins don't offer him back to the Cubs, he'll probably start the season on the disabled list. Barring any last-minute acquisitions, Perisho will return to a familiar albeit solitary role in the relief corps. Including Perisho, the Marlins used four left-handers out of the bullpen last season. Darren Oliver's June 30 relief appearance marked the last by a left-hander other than Perisho. "I don't think it really presents any kind of challenge," Perisho said. "It means I have to be ready every day and that's what I want to do. I would love to have 85, 95 appearances. ... For me to be the only [lefty], that means a lot of opportunities. "I welcome it. It'll be just like last year with more experience behind me. That will help me be a lot more aggressive in the situations I'm brought in. I can go right after guys like I did when we got Guillermo [Mota]. Just go after them, attack and be ready every night." Perisho made a career-high 66 appearances in 2004 and held left-handed hitters to a .207 average. The bullpen help the Marlins acquired during the offseason was all right-handed. Starting the season with two lefties would require them to carry a 12th pitcher. The Marlins may still go with 12. Even if they had more lefty options, they would probably be more inclined to keep a long man like Brian Moehler. "We'd love to have a couple [of left-handers], but there's no room," manager Jack McKeon said. "All those [right-handed] guys are locked in." Perisho learned a few things about his arm last season that should allow him to maximize his appearances. He long tossed with closer Armando Benitez daily. It was helpful over the short term in that it prepared Perisho for that evening if needed; in the long run the workout wore him down. "I felt good healthwise, but stuffwise I got tired," Perisho said. "I'm going to minimize the distance and the amount of the long toss. I'm still going to stretch it out every day, but I don't think I'm going to throw as long or as hard as I did with Armando." Getting Perisho on the field more also will require getting him warmed up less. He averaged 12.4 pitches per outing and totaled less than 10 in 32 appearances. What many don't consider is the number of times he got loose without going into the game also is a component of his workload. "My wife chewed me out about icing the other day when I threw eight pitches," Perisho said. "Yeah, but I threw 75 pitches getting ready to go into the game. Once you get up to that third time and not getting in, you're basically throwing two or three innings so you have to monitor how much you throw. ... If it's get up, get in, get out, I could probably do it seven days a week."
March 30, 200521 yr Author Now if he can just keep from giving big home runs I will be happy 724191[/snapback] If he continues to get out Thome, Abreu and Floyd...I will be happy. Just keep KG, Jr. away from him! :whistle
March 30, 200521 yr Yeah, they only hit .207 off him, but it seemed like damn near every hit of that .207 was a go-ahead home run or something. I'd much rather have Mecir as our lefty specialist, and he also gives up less homers than Perisho.
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