On Thursday night, Indians closer Chris Perez pitched a scoreless 10th inning to help Cleveland defeat Seattle by a score of 6-5 in 11 innings. The fans were not all that thrilled with his performance, however, as Perez allowed two runners to reach base and heard some boos because of it. After a dominating performance on Saturday in which he struck out the side in the 9th to preserve a 2-0 Indians win over the Marlins, Perez let reporters know how he feels about the fans in Cleveland.
“It doesn’t bother me, it p—-s me off,” Perez said when asked about the fan reaction he received on Thursday. “I don’t think they have a reason to boo me. I was tired of getting booed at home so I figured I’d better throw some strikes (on Saturday). You can quote that.
“They booed me against the Mariners when I had two guys on. It feels like I can’t even give up a base runner without people booing me. It’s even worse when there’s only 5,000 in the stands, because then you can hear it. It pisses me off.”
Perez said he believes the lack of support from the fans in Cleveland is the reason free agents don’t want to sign with the Indians. Cleveland currently ranks last in the MLB in attendance for the 2012 season, despite the fact that they are in first in the A.L. Central division.
“Guys don’t want to come over here and people wonder why,” Perez continued. “Why doesn’t Carlos Beltran want to come over here? Well, because of that. You had a choice of playing in St. Louis where you get 40,000 like Beltran chose to do, or you can come to Cleveland. It’s going to take more money to get him to come to Cleveland. That’s just how it is. That’s another thing that you have to go against. It’s not only the payrolls of the AL East teams, but that kind of stuff. …
” … I’m not calling out the fans. It’s just how it is. That stuff is reserved for road games.”
To summarize: If you’re an Indians fan, Perez isn’t calling you out. He’s just saying that you suck.
Photo credit: David Richard-US PRESSWIRE
