Perez Receives ‘F’ for His Latest Effort

They first tried tinkering with his delivery, figuring his problems were mostly mechanical.

Then they worked on his pitching philosophy, hoping subtle changes in his approach on the mound would help Carlos Perez.

So now what?

The Dodgers are running out of options with the struggling pitcher, who was pounded again Friday night in a 12-6 interleague loss to the Athletics at Network Associates Coliseum.

Perez (2-8) lasted only 2 1/3 miserable innings in his shortest and most disturbing outing to this point for the Dodgers. Oakland jumped on Perez from the outset and cruised for most of the game before a crowd of 24,261.

Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada hit three home runs and drove in five runs. The first homer came against Perez in the first, the second against Onan Masaoka in the third and the final shot against Doug Bochtler in the seventh.

The Dodgers rallied in the seventh against Oakland starter Mike Oquist (6-4) and reliever Tim Worrell. They chased Oquist after he walked Dave Hansen to open the inning and cut the lead to 9-6 on Jose Vizcaino’s no-out, three-run double against Worrell.

Perez was charged with a season-high eight runs. He was chased with one out in the third and the Dodgers trailing, 7-1.

His earned-run average increased from 6.18 to 7.18 as he lost for the fifth time in six starts. Perez walked four and hit a batter.

This from a guy in the first year of a three-year, $15.6-million contract.

He was so bad that Manager Davey Johnson removed him while he was facing a batter. Johnson hooked Perez after a 1-and-0 count against Tejada, who staked Oquist to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with his first homer. Typically, managers don’t remove pitchers during counts. However, Perez’s situation is not typical.

“I’d just like to start see him pitching with some confidence,” Johnson said. “I’d like him to go after guys a little bit more. I haven’t seen that from him enough.”

Tejada hit his second homer on a full count during his third-inning at-bat against rookie left-hander Masaoka. The one-out blast to left field gave the Athletics a 9-1 lead, and provided another low moment in a season of many for the Dodgers.

Eric Karros hit his second homer in as many games for the Dodgers. However, the Dodgers needed much more with Perez pitching.

Oakland (31-29) scored six runs in the third inning. The Dodgers dropped a game under .500 at 29-30, and they now trail the Arizona Diamondbacks by six games in the National League West.

Perez was the main culprit Friday--but he wasn’t alone.

Again, the Dodgers were not sharp defensively. The were charged with only one error (on a ball Perez failed to field in the second), but there were many other miscues that helped prolong rallies for Oakland.

But with the way Perez pitched, the Dodgers never had a chance.

Perez walked leadoff batter Tony Phillips in the first. On a 1-and-1 pitch, Tejada then homered to left, giving Oakland a 2-0 lead.

Leading, 3-1, in the third, the Athletics sent 10 batters to the plate against Perez and Masaoka.

Perez gave up a two-run double to Mike Macfarlane and a two-run homer to Ryan Christenson to push the lead to 7-1. After a ball to Tejada, Johnson had finally seen enough.

“He should be more pitch-efficient,” Johnson said of Perez. “He’s not the type of pitcher who should make five or six pitches on a hitter, he should be, ‘boom, boom,’ whether the guy hits the ball or not.

“They should be hitting ground balls against him. That’s the type of pitcher he should be. That’s the way I remember him pitching against my clubs in the past.”