Oliver Perez again had difficulty finding his location during an outing against Cleveland on Saturday. Elevating pitches in the strike zone is a terrible idea, and usually results in giving up the long ball. Perez is no stranger to the long ball, and it could be something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

2003: 103.2 innings, 20 HR
2004: 196.0 innings, 22 HR
2005: 103.0 innings, 23 HR
2006: 112.2 innings, 20 HR
2007: 177.0 innings, 22 HR

If you exclude his fluke 2004 amazing season, it equates to one dinger per 4.6 innings. That's quite a bit, and leaves him open to giving up a big inning.

Perez is a streaky pitcher, and usually his strike zone problems come in bunches. It's rare to see Oliver give up a big inning, and then rebound for the rest of the game. He's either dead on, or horribly off, and rarely does he lie somewhere in the middle.

Rick Peterson should definitely be held accountable for Perez's inconsistent performance moving forward. He needs to work with the young talented lefty to make sure he can stay consistent, and work through tough outings. Not only will it make him lower the HR/innings pitched, but it should also help him overall keep his head in the game, and concentrate on getting hitters out.