"J.J. Putz's inexplicable meltdown continued last night, and this time it cost the Mets a game.

Jerry Manuel gave the veteran reliever another chance just one day after his eighth-inning disaster at Citi Field, and Putz made the manager regret it by handing the lowly Pirates an 8-5 comeback victory here.

Putz, who held a pregame bullpen session at PNC Park with pitching coach Dan Warthen in the hope of solving his recent woes, got his command back, but couldn't get anyone out in Pittsburgh's decisive five-run eighth.

"He threw strikes, which was good, but you've got to get the ball down," Manuel said. "Obviously, he's struggling right now."

The big right-hander was more like a punching bag, giving up singles to each of the first four batters he faced in the eighth after replacing Pedro Feliciano with one out, one on and the Mets holding a 5-3 lead.

Two of the singles came on the first pitch to a batter from Putz, including pinch-hitter Delwyn Young's RBI hit up the middle that drove in the go-ahead run.

"Everything was coming out of my hand good, but they were [hitting] . . . three-hoppers up the middle," whispered a somber Putz afterward. "They were just hitting the right spot. I was pounding the strike zone with my pitches."

Putz handed out an intentional walk before Manuel mercifully pulled the plug, and the only saving grace is that the implosion came in front of an intimate gathering, announced at 11,812, rather than at Citi Field.

There's no telling how the home fans will greet Putz the next time they see him. Of course, the Mets could have a new set-up man by then after Putz's latest flameout.

Manuel confirmed that Putz would not be allowed to pitch again until at least tomorrow while the Mets let him sort through his issues.

Manuel, though, made it clear that he isn't yet ready to give up on the former All-Star closer.

"I've got to find some success [from Putz], then I think the confidence will come back," the manager said. "We'll need him going forward. That's how we're designed. At some point, he's got to be that [eighth-inning] guy."

Putz's disaster trashed what was shaping up as a confidence-boosting win by the patchwork Mets (28-22), who fell 1 ½ games back in the NL East after the Phillies' 5-3 win last night in San Diego. "