By DAVID SATRIANO

June 7, 2008

Oliver Perez needs to get the Mets back on the winning track tonight against the Padres (10:05, SNY, WFAN).

That might be difficult considering Perez hasn't won since May 18, and has pitched terribly in three starts since then.

He hit rock-bottom Monday, pitching 1/3 of an inning, throwing 36 pitches, allowing six runs on five hits.

"You see it. This was my worst outing of my career," Perez said afterward. "It's one of those days you want to forget."

Willie Randolph was hopeful Perez would have built on Johan Santana's strong start from the previous night. Perez now follows Santana again after a pair of 2-1 losses to the Padres that opened this four-game series.

"I always say that sometimes momentum is as good as your next-day pitcher and that's a classic example of it," the manager said. "Oliver had a horrible night. He didn't throw the ball well and couldn't get out of the inning."

How bad was it? It was the first time a Mets pitcher failed to get out of the first inning since the last day of the 2007 regular season, when Tom Glavine lasted 1/3 of an inning and gave up seven runs as the historical collapse was finalized.

In Perez's past three starts, he has pitched a combined 11 1/3 innings, allowing 15 runs and walking 14. His ERA is 11.91 in that span.

Randolph knows this is unacceptable.

"He wasn't competing, he was flailing away on the mound," Randolph said of Perez's Monday night outing. "You can't just start heaving the ball. You have to make adjustments. That's what pitchers do."

With Randolph and teammate Billy Wagner both outwardly criticizing Perez this week, his spot in the starting rotation may be in jeopardy. Perhaps another bad outing will lead to Claudio Vargas bumping him out.

"He's got to pick it up," Randolph said of Perez, who enters tonight's matchup with Cha Seung Baek at 4-4 with a 5.70 ERA. "He's off to a rocky start, obviously. It's up to him. He's going to have to make the adjustments and find a way to be more consistent."

A season ago, Perez was 15-10 with a 3.56 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 2-to-1.

"I don't think he's totally regressed," Randolph said. "Let's look at the total body of work at the end of the season. But having said that, he needs to get it together."

With Bart Hubbuch