Perez Shows Giants That He Can Be a Real Party-Pooper at Times

Carlos Perez watched in disgust as the San Francisco Giants routed the Dodgers recently.

The pitcher was angered by the Giants’ numerous celebrations, and he was determined to end their fun.

Perez accomplished his goal, pitching his fourth consecutive complete game in a 1-0 victory Sunday afternoon.

On another spectacular day at 3Com Park, a crowd of 40,184 watched Perez (11-13) outduel fellow left-hander Shawn Estes (7-12). Trenidad Hubbard provided Perez’s support with a solo home run in the first.

The Giants were pleased with themselves after defeating the Dodgers, 18-4, on Saturday. But they weren’t as upbeat after facing Perez.

“That made me mad,” Perez said of the Giants’ display. “I was sitting on the bench watching them, and they kept hitting the ball so well.

“They kept getting hits and having a good time, like we were a minor league team. That got me upset.”

And Perez did something about it, giving up only four hits in becoming the first Dodger pitcher to complete four consecutive games since Orel Hershiser pitched five in a row in 1988.

Perez has been efficient throughout his streak and was again Sunday, throwing 122 pitches, 81 for strikes, while striking out eight and walking three. The Giants failed to score in the fifth with one out and runners on first and second, and in the eighth after Brian Johnson tripled to right to lead off the inning.

“Carlos picked us up after a really tough game,” Manager Glenn Hoffman said. “We’re out of it now, but you still want to come back strong after a game like we had [Saturday].”

Hubbard’s one-out homer--his seventh--in the first also helped the Dodgers avoid a three-game sweep, and hurt the Giants’ dwindling playoff hopes. With seven games remaining, San Francisco now trails the front-running New York Mets by four games, and the second-place Chicago Cubs by three games in the National League wild-card race.

“No matter whether they’re going [to the NL playoffs] doesn’t matter to me,” said Perez, who pitched his eighth career shutout. “I’m going to pitch my game no matter what. I don’t want anyone to beat my team like that, that got me upset, so I just pitched my game.”

In doing so, Perez improved to 4-0 with a 0.75 earned-run average in his last four outings. Perez has obviously made strides after beginning his Dodger career 0-3 with a 5.91 ERA in his first five starts.

“He’s been absolutely super,” pitching coach Charlie Hough said. “In recent games, the command on his fastball has been excellent.

“He’s had a good [split-fingered pitch], a good slider and a little bit of a change. But none of them are great unless he spots his fastball, because that allows him to get ahead in counts. Then he can throw a bunch of changeups.”

On Sunday, Perez kept the Giants off-balance by mixing his fastball and split-fingered pitches.

“My fastball was very, very good,” Perez said. “I had good command on my fastball, and I could throw it whenever for strikes. That was very important for me.”

Moreover, Perez pitched inside. That’s something his Dodger colleagues didn’t do frequently enough in Saturday’s debacle.

“You have to pitch inside in the major leagues,” said Perez, who retired the side in order in the first, third, fourth and ninth.

“A lot of hitters don’t like it when you throw two pitches in a row inside, but I don’t care. If you keep pitching away and away, then they are going to keep hitting you. You have to pitch inside if you want to win.”

Estes also pitched well enough to win. He gave up two hits in eight strong innings and struck out 10 in his best performance in four starts since returning from the disabled list after suffering a strained throwing shoulder.

“I just wish he would have gotten a no-decision or the victory,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said. “He deserved it.”

Perez deserved it a little more.