Perez says he’s ready to go

Nick Christensen

Friday, July 1, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

For two weeks, Odalis Perez has tried to pitch his way out of his rehabilitation assignment with the Las Vegas 51s.

Barring a surprising return of the injury to his left rotator cuff, Perez succeeded in doing just that Thursday.

Making his fourth rehabilitation start for the 51s, Perez gave up one hit and one walk while striking out five Portland batters in five innings. Perez picked up the win as the 51s shut out Portland 6-0 in front of an announced crowd of 11,205 at Cashman Field.

"Tonight was the best game. I believe I'm ready to go to the big leagues," Perez said. "The first few innings I was a little beat up. But after I started adjusting, I adjusted everything and after that I took control of the game."

51s manager Jerry Royster said he was pleased with the effort Perez put into his start.

"He practiced well, he did a lot of things, he experimented," Royster said. "We would have liked for him to have thrown another inning in there but he still had 80 pitches."

Perez had been sidelined since May 15. He had a 6.52 ERA at Triple-A coming into Thursday's game, thanks largely in part to a five run, seven-hit outing last Saturday at Tuscon.

Although Perez said he still wasn't at full strength, he felt ready to go. If he were called up for Tuesday's game, he'd make his return at Colorado. He would then get the last start before the All-Star break in the following Sunday's game at Houston.

He said the prospect of pitching at Coors Field for his return doesn't intimidate him.

"It's another field. It's another opposite team. You have to go out and play them," he said. "I know the highability (elevation) is tough and the ball flies but at the same time, I have to go and pitch. I'm a professional and even if it's a tough place, I don't care."

As for who comes down when Perez goes up, there were no answers on Thursday. Royster speculated that the roster shakeup when Perez returns to the Dodgers would have a greater impact on the 51s than the Dodgers.

"I would say we're going to get a position player," he said. "And if we do, we have to make a move. We don't have very many moves so our move is going to be a pretty big one."

Cody Ross and Mike Edwards would seem to be likely candidates for returns to Las Vegas.

The 51s have three more games with Portland this weekend. They return home on July 14, after trips to Fresno and Portland and the three-day Triple-A All-Star break.

"We don't play very many games like that," Royster said. "It's nice. It's fun to watch. We're like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. How can we look that good and be that bad right afterward?"

The biggest difference on Thursday was run production. The 51s scored all six runs without any home runs, and Derek Michaelis' two-out, two RBI pinch hit single in the sixth inning helped put away the Beavers.

"Those are the games we dream of. Those are the situations we dream of," Royster said. "That's playing baseball and we just kept doing it."

A thick fog settled over the field in the later innings, making it tough for outfielders in particular.

"A lot of balls that went up to the extreme right or extreme left I didn't see much. Even the balls that were at me were kind of hard to determine how they were hit," said 51s outfielder Henri Stanley. "It's like Scooby-Doo fog on the infield. It's just a matter of trying to determine if it was hit hard or how far it was going to travel."

The problem, said 51s general manager Don Logan, is the extensive use of misters installed in the dugouts in the offseason. The higher humidity and hot temperatures creates a cloud boxed in by the 20 foot walls of the stadium.

"The other ones (in the stands), we've learned how to deal with them. The dugout ones, they control them in the dugout," Logan said, adding that he had talked to Royster about using the misters more frugally during games.