PITTSBURGH -- Oliver Perez is accustomed to spending his winters in a baseball uniform, not dodging snowdrifts or sneaking a peek into Punxsutawney Phil's cavernous hole.
The Mexican-born pitcher did exactly that during a wintry week on the Pittsburgh Pirates' annual fan caravan, seeing snow -- and, yes, Pennsylvania's most famous rodent -- for the first time.
"On the first day, we thought we were going to lose him -- we thought he wanted to go home," Pirates pitching coach Spin Williams said. "By the end of the caravan, he was having so much fun, he said he was going to move here."
Maybe the crowd reaction he generated had something to do with Perez's renewed liking for his newly adopted hometown.
Wherever Perez, outfielder Craig Wilson, shortstop Jack Wilson and manager Lloyd McClendon went last week, they attracted big turnouts and drew autograph lines so long that some appearances were extended by as much as an hour. The team's Fanfest in Pittsburgh last weekend drew twice as many fans as last winter's, even with the Pirates coming off a 12th consecutive losing season.
Perez has played only one full season in Pittsburgh, yet might be the franchise's most popular pitcher since former Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek. Perez's 12-10 record and 2.98 ERA are part of the reason, but mostly it was his 239 strikeouts -- the fourth most in the NL and 19 more than Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens had for Houston.
It seems everybody loves a strikeout pitcher.
"Me, too!" said Perez, whose single-season strikeout total was the third-highest in team history. "When I'm on the mound, I try to take out the guys. When you have the chance to strike guys out, I want to do it. I don't want them to hit a blooper with somebody on base, you have to try to strike out the guys."
Perez's first full season in the majors also was his longest in baseball, so he skipped pitching for hometown Culiacan in the Mexican league this winter.
"It was the first time I felt so tired, so that's why I rested a lot," Perez said. "I wanted to enjoy my family, have a vacation, just stay with my friends and try to forget a little bit of baseball."
That's not easy for someone who has done little but play baseball year-round since he was a youngster. This is his first extended break from the game, and one the Pirates urged him to take since they realize they've got a potentially special pitcher in Perez.
It's for this very reason that Williams spent last spring helping Perez remake his delivery to eliminate the flaws and wasted motions than can bring on arm problems.
Perez had a terrible spring training as he adjusted to the changes and barely made the club coming out of camp as the No. 5 starter, but by season's end had become the team's most promising young left-handed starter since John Candelaria in the late 1970s.
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