Lennon: It's time to get Perez out of rotation

On a field strewn with wind-blown garbage, Oliver Perez's ugly performance Sunday fit right in with the tumbling Nathan's boxes and spinning soda cups.

But at least the trash was removed between innings by an attentive grounds crew. For some reason, Jerry Manuel waited to clean up his own mess on the mound, as if he expected Perez to morph into Sandy Koufax at any minute.

Of course, that didn't happen. Bad Ollie became Worse Ollie, and it was a miracle that the Mets trailed only 2-0 when Manuel finally lifted Perez with one out in the fourth (although Raul Valdes later allowed two of Perez's runners to score).

By then, Perez had thrown 98 pitches and walked seven, earning him the loudest boos of the season at Citi Field. Incredibly, it was the ninth time in Perez's career that he had as many as seven walks, and the outing was his shortest since he lasted two-thirds of an inning at Citizens Bank Park on Aug. 23, 2009.

That also was Perez's final start before he had season-ending knee surgery, which was the best thing for all of the parties involved. Unfortunately for the Mets, they don't have as convenient an excuse to yank him from the rotation now, and Manuel provided a tepid endorsement of Perez when asked about the lefthander's job security after Sunday's 6-5 loss to the Giants. "We will have to talk about it and reflect on it," Manuel said. "But as I sit here right now, I don't see us at this time making any changes."

If the Mets continue to blame Perez's early-season issues on the cold weather, then they are sticking with him for the wrong reasons. Sure, the first-pitch temperature was 53 degrees, with gusty winds, but it wasn't snowing. And for all the damage Perez inflicted, the Mets still were able to rally for a 5-4 lead.

But the Mets shouldn't fool themselves by looking at Perez's 4.50 ERA, which is lower than Johan Santana's 4.54, or rationalize leaving him in the rotation because he's only midway through his three-year, $36-million contract.

Now that the Mets, under Manuel's leadership, have shown they can be a contender in the wide-open National League, why not try to upgrade the rotation by replacing Perez with Hisanori Takahashi?

Better to give the Mets a fighting chance from the first pitch rather than watch Perez essentially give up again because he's too cold, too hot or ate some bad shellfish for lunch.

He threw 35 pitches during a 17-minute third inning that included two walks and a hit batsman. The previous inning, when the Giants took a 2-0 lead, Perez fell behind Tim Lincecum 3-and-0 before walking him on five pitches.

"I have to be better than that," Perez said. "There's no excuse. I know what I have to do. It's not going to happen again."

But it will. Even when Perez delivers a serviceable outing, as he did last Monday in Cincinnati, history shows that another meltdown won't be far behind. There's a reason why Perez is 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA since his last victory Aug. 18 of last season, a stretch in which he has allowed 31 hits and 27 walks over 302/3 innings.

Even Rod Barajas, his own catcher, said Perez has been unable to make the necessary in-game adjustments to avert the type of disaster that went down yesterday. Though Perez's teammates mostly stuck up for him afterward, they'll eventually turn on him if he doesn't carry his weight as the No. 5 starter.

Manuel knows that, which prompted him to hedge a little more when asked if it is "fair" to stay with Perez if he keeps pitching like this.

"It's a good question," Manuel said. "We'll have to take everything into consideration as we contemplate and chew on it and marinate on it and see where we are."

Still, Manuel is reluctant to let Perez work out his issues in the bullpen. "I really don't know," he said. "The way we are kind of geared right now, to say you're going to go there and work on something, it kind of shackles us in a sense in trying to get that done and also win games. We're here to win games."

Exactly. And if Perez can't help make that happen in the rotation, don't leave him there.