From a 21-Year Military Veteran: Leave Them Alone

I am a 21-year veteran of the Armed Forces, and a disabled vet as well.  I am absolutely appalled by the Press coverage that Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez are getting for not going to Walter Reed.

Why?  It is not big deal that they didn't go.

Carlos Beltran said he visited a VA hospital this off-season and had meetings to attend about his charity on the day of the Walter Reed visit.

Luis Castillo said he is not comfortable around amputees and those with other disfigurements.

Oliver Perez refuses comment, which is his right.

The fact of the matter is that this wasn't a visit to the zoo, it wasn't some mandatory fun, it was a visit to Walter Reed to pay tribute to fighting men.  Why on Earth should someone be forced to do it?  If it was voluntary, then why make a fuss over anyone who didn't attend?

Oliver Perez is from Mexico.  Does that mean if an American works in Mexico he needs to go visit a Mexican veteran's home?  Should they wear a Viva Zapata! shirt while doing so?

If Luis Castillo doesn't want to see disfigured people, do you force him to go and deal with the trauma?  Do you make the soldiers uncomfortable by forcing a guy on them who refuses to look, or possibly gets physically ill in their presence?

Do you force Carlos Beltran to delay the meetings for his $10M charity, and his lifelong dream, so that one more baseball player goes to Walter Reed?

Here's something you may or may not care about--those guys at Walter Reed get visits all the time.  It's not like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet their hero.

I am staggered by the reporting here, and I guarantee you that if you speak with any Walter Reed Soldier, Airman, or Marine, they would tell you to leave those three guys alone. 

Related articles

• New York Mets' Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez skip visit to veterans' hospital (sports.espn.go.com)
• Three Mets Skip Visit to Walter Reed (nytimes.com)

WBC In-Game Scouting Report: Ollie Perez

I am watching tonight's Mexico vs Korea game specifically to see how Ollie looks.

There is a HUGE crowd in attendance. It's not surprising, given Southern California's large Mexican and Korean populations...Orange County California has the most Korean residents of anyplace in the States--the DC area is second.

It's actually great to see, especially after there looked like 5,000 fans turned out to see the USA team play on our home turf. The Koreans have the war drums out, and the Mexican fans are painted up and wearing masks...vive le differance!

1st Inning

Ollie's control is off early. He walked the leadoff hitter for Korea and seems off-balance--well, more off-balance than usual.

After inducing a short flyout, the #3 hitter took a fastball up the opposite way for a hit. Men on first and second, one out, and the cleanup hitter, Tae-Kyun Kim, is up.

Ollie looks serious--he is bearing down.

Double play! Ollie gets out of it--to be honest, the Korean hit a bad pitch...he seemed amped up.

Good job Ollie.

2nd Inning

OK, his teammates staked Ollie to a 2-0 lead. FYI, this game is moving at a glacial pace as the Korean starter takes forever between pitches. I hope to make it thru three!

One out in the inning...Ollie has yet to top 90 mph (he just hit 89), and he is up to 25 pitches already. Just as I type that Ollie throws a 90 mph fastball and....homerun Korea! Some guy named Bing Bong or something just took a fastball that was right over the heart of the plate and crushed it.

Now Ollie has amped it up...92 mph fastball....and another hit, this time a linedrive slashed the other way over the shortstop's head.

Ollie is all over the place now. Curve two feet outside, fastball down the pipe, slider in the dirt, lots of throws to first.

Struck him out! After 4 throws to first Ollie came back inside with his best pitch of the night. 93 mph fastball right at the inside corner...swing and a miss. Two outs now.

His fastball is the only pitch working for him tonight, and it's hit or miss. The off-speed and breaking stuff is just not close enough to induce many swings.

Korea just stole second...full count now....Ollie at 24 pitches for the inning thus far.

Wow--tie game...Ollie induced a grounder, and Edgar Gonzalez at second threw it away...run scored, and they get the runner trying to make it to second on a nice play by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez hustling after the ball and making a nice throw.

Ollie over 40 pitches after two, and he got lucky they nailed the runner at second. His fastball is OK, but his secondary pitches look terrible. OK, I'm gonna do one more inning, maybe two....game has been on an hour and we just completed two. Yikes!

Editorial Note: Big leagues or WBC, it just doesn't matter to Cowboy Joe West. His floating tiny strike zone sucks no matter what type of game he's calling. His maddening inconsistency is the most consistent part of his mediocrity.

3rd Inning

It's 12:22 and we're starting the bottom of the third...one pitch, one out for Ollie!

Ollie is not happy with Joe West...he just threw two fastballs that missed low (allegedly) by two inches. Now he gets the soft flyball out. Great job so far...two quick outs on 4 pitches.

Wow, Ollie just got a strikeout...first of the game.

An 8 pitch inning, 6 fastballs, and he looked terrific. 49 pitches now.

4th Inning

Very fast third inning, so I am sticking around for one more....lucky you.

Ollie is primarily throwing fastballs at this point, though he just tried a curve...now another fastball...damn...homerun by some guy named Bean Pod. Crushed, launched, tattooed...Ollied!

3-2 Korea....really, that was just a meatball...high fastball right where the guy could extend his arms.

Now the count is 3-1...Ollie has lost the zone a bit...still not getting the curve over at all. The Korean just swung at ball four...full count. Now he just "excuse me" swung at ball four for the second time and struck out on a curve that bounced on the plate. Ollie got help there.

Another full count....Ollie must be over 60 pitches....got the out...threw a "get over" slow fastball and got the ground out. Sometimes less is more with Ollie, and that pitch, in this situation, worked.

Ollie again only throwing fastballs....and the Korean take the pitch right up the middle for a line drive single. This pitch would have been hit out by a quality big leaguer...the guy that got the hit is seriously 130 pounds (he is their base stealer).

Ollie gets out of it with a ground out...again, just throwing fastballs now.

Thoughts

I'll wrap this up with: it was vintage "medium Ollie"...his fastball was off early, he got it going, but the breaking/off-speed pitches were never there. He needed about 70 pitches for four innings, and that includes the 8-pitch third.

His first WBC outing was bad, and this one, at least to this point is about a "C", so he's making progress.

Obviously I cannot wait to get him back in camp with the Mets, but it's nice to see him working against decent competition and focusing as hard as he is without overthrowing....for all his faults tonight he stayed within himself and focused on what was working.