Oliver Perez let down his team today.

Clinging to a modest 3-game winning streak, and with a difficult road trip to the west coast looming, Perez couldn’t get out of the 2nd inning this afternoon, going 1.2 innings and allowing 7 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks.

An April matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates may seem inconsequential, however today will have been a horrible note on which to leave home, and could easily snowball into a significant losing streak if the Mets’ bats don’t speak loudly in Arizona.

West coast trips are always tough, but this one is particularly brutal with the top of Arizona’s rotation aligning with the back end of the Mets’ staff. The Diamondbacks lead the majors with an unconscious 19-8 record.

Then it’s on to Los Angeles, for a three-game set against Joe Torre’s improving Dodger team. L.A. has won four-straight entering this afternoon’s contest in Florida.

Any way you slice it, it seems things continue to conspire against the Mets.