Relaford, a former high school pitcher who reached 91 miles an hour on the radar gun and had a tailing changeup, retired the side in order, striking out pitcher Jose Nunez. ''I got a punch-out, a little zero on my E.R.A. on my baseball card,'' he said. ''A bright spot to a miserable night.''

Trachsel was mired in the deepest misery. Valentine would not say if he would start Trachsel again, only that he would evaluate the situation. But he is clearly angry with Trachsel, saying Trachsel gave an unsatisfactory explanation in their postgame meeting. ''At this level,'' Valentine said, ''you can't miss by three feet.''

What plan was Trachsel supposed to follow? ''The exact opposite of what he did,'' Valentine said.

Did it seem as if Trachsel was trying? ''I think he's trying,'' Valentine said. ''Probably 20,000 people in the stands could come out and try.''

The Mets could replace Trachsel in the rotation with Dicky Gonzalez, who followed Trachsel with two and two-thirds scoreless innings. Trachsel could then pitch in long relief; he said there was nothing wrong with him physically.

Mentally, however, Trachsel is at a career low point. He signed a two-year, $7 million free-agent contract last winter when the Mets thought he was a better pitcher and a better bargain than Bobby Jones. But the Mets have won only one of his eight starts, and Trachsel has lost 39 games since the start of the 1999 season, the most in the major leagues.

''This is the worst I've felt in probably my entire career,'' he said.

Trachsel, a nine-year veteran, has explained other poor outings by pointing to one or two bad pitches. He offered no such excuses last night.

''A lot of pitches over the middle of the plate, that's probably the biggest thing,'' he said. ''I probably could have mixed my pitches better, but even if you mix pitches and you're not hitting your location, you're going to give up a lot of hits.''