LOS ANGELES -- Two quick strikes after Oliver Perez greeted Rafael Furcal on Monday night, Perez had put one of the National League's hottest hitters in a precarious spot.

Brian Schneider, charged with guiding one of the Mets' more erratic pitchers, tapped his catcher's mitt on the dirt behind home plate. He wanted Perez to bounce a breaking ball.

"If you throw a ball, who cares?" Schneider said.

But if you throw a strike, things can sour quickly. Perez did just that, Furcal cracked it over Dodger Stadium's left-field fence for a home run, and the Mets were on their way to a 5-1 loss to the Dodgers, their third defeat in five games.

"They beat him on the home runs today," Schneider said. "They weren't singles or doubles, and that was the name of the game tonight.

"That's where we got beat."

And that's where Perez got beat. Again.

No matter what Perez did on this night, it was certain to be framed by his last start against the Pirates. Lasting only 1 2/3 innings in that one, Perez absorbed criticism from closer Billy Wagner following the outing, and those comments followed him all week.

His recovery was not quite what the Mets might have expected -- Perez allowed three homers and five runs in total -- but manager Willie Randolph said he saw Perez improve. David Wright said he saw Perez compete. Even Wagner said he saw some progress.

Much of it stemmed not from Perez's final line against the Ddogers, but from his actions in the first inning, when Jeff Kent drilled a line drive directly into the left side of his stomach. Popping right back up, Perez fired one practice pitch home to please a group of Mets coaches and trainers, then went back to his work. At that point, he was only just beginning a stretch that saw him retire 12 out of 14 Dodgers hitters.

Trouble came again in the fifth, however, when rookie Blake DeWitt drilled a home run to center -- the first of DeWitt's young career. Then, with two outs, Perez walked the speedy Juan Pierre, before serving up another homer, this one to Matt Kemp.

"You're doing them a favor," Schneider said of the walk to Pierre.

The Mets, by that point, had all but lost the game. Hapless against Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley, the offense mustered five hits all night. Carlos Beltran, who tripled and scored in the sixth, had two of them, marking only his second multiple-hit game since the first week of the season.

The offense, however, has been relatively adequate in recent days. Perez has not, now having allowed at least five runs in each of his past three starts, posting an 8.10 ERA over that stretch. Yet so many Mets -- Randolph, Schneider, Wright -- swear they saw something more in him on Monday, something that hinted of a hairpin turn up ahead.

Perez might change this thing yet.

"He gave up a couple home runs, but for the most part, I thought he went out there and competed," Wright said. "He gave up some runs, but I like the way he battled."

Perhaps that's relatively speaking, considering that Monday marked the first time since April 2 that Perez has lasted even six innings in a game. Baseball convention says that six innings aren't too great, but for Perez, they're an improvement. Somewhat.

"If you go by the way he pitched last time, I would say yeah, that's progress," Randolph said. "But I don't look at it that way."

What he sees instead is a pitcher whose greatest flaw throughout has been consistency. And Perez has been consistent of late, though not in the manner that the Mets might have hoped. Nearly all of his recent starts have seen Perez work inefficiently, allow a few too many runs, and generally limit his team's opportunity to win.

Monday was no different, which makes it a worry -- regardless of any improvement.

"He's in my rotation and he's going to stay there until we feel that we have to make a change," Randolph said. "But right now, he's fine. He's just going to keep working. It's only the first month of the season. I'll continue to reiterate the fact that there are times when you get off to a slow start. Ollie had a good year for us last year, and I'm assuming and feeling like he's going to have another good year this year. But it's early."

So until that happens, the Mets may have to endure a few more losses like these. Consider his last three starts a line drive to the stomach. The Mets can only hope that Perez will hop back up, fire a practice pitch, and be on his way once more.

"I'm just trying to do my job," Perez said. "I'm just trying to help my team."