Teammates Don’t Try Hard Enough, Pascual Perez Says

After two weeks with the New York Yankees, Pascual Perez has concluded that some of his teammates aren’t trying hard enough.

“I don’t really like what I see so far,” Perez said in today’s editions of the New York Daily News. “I know it’s still early, but I don’t like what I see.”

The Yankees (4-6) have lost five straight and are last in the American League East, three games behind the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays.

“When I’m not pitching, I’m on the bench and I’m getting ready to pinch-run,” Perez said. “I’m ready to do anything. I like to do that. That’s part of my job. But I don’t see that here.

“There are some guys who should be getting ready to pinch-hit and pinch-run in the sixth, seventh or eighth, and they just sit there. You have to know when you’re gonna pinch-hit. You have to stretch, you have to get ready. You don’t be sitting down on the bench. You have to prepare yourself mentally.”

Perez (1-1) hasn’t allowed an earned run in 11 innings. He’s given up five hits, struck out 10 and walked three.

Perez is known as a free spirit who once got lost on his way to the ballpark in Atlanta. But he thinks the attitude of the Yankees is too loose.

“There’s too many jokes during the game in the dugout,” he said. “Too many funny things. Sure, this is a game, but you shouldn’t be having fun if you’ve lost five in a row. Bull on the bench is no good, especially if you’re losing. I watch everything. I see.

“You know, now it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But late in the season you think about the games you lost early.”