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If there ever comes a day when I quit fantasy baseball, pitchers like Oliver Perez will be the reason. Well, that or the owner in my league who has the world's most irrational man-crush on Josh Beckett. But that's a story for another time.

Guys like Perez, immensely talented yet incredibly inconsistent, are enough to drive fantasy owners to drink. Really, you never know what you're going to get on any given day.

I call them the Matt Cain All-Stars.

They could throw a two-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts in one start, then get lit up for 10 runs in one inning the next time out. Eventually you learn to accept your fate with these pitchers and keep a bottle of antacids handy just in case they walk the first five batters of the game.

Cain, of course, is the captain of the team. The Giants right-hander has some of the most nasty stuff in the majors, yet control problems have kept him from evolving into the true ace that teammate Tim Lincecum has become.

Baltimore's Daniel Cabrera belongs on the team. As does Toronto's A.J. Burnett, the Angels' Jered Weaver, and the Mets' John Maine. Even, some might say, Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose dominant stuff usually covers up for his maddening tendency to nibble around the plate and walk four or five batters a game.

Perez, as you may have guessed, is a longtime member of the club. He's been an enigma since his rookie year with the Padres in 2002, when he struck out 94 batters in 90 innings and had a 3.50 ERA. After getting dealt to Pittsburgh, Perez became a fantasy favorite in 2004 when he struck out 239 batters in 196 innings and sported a 2.98 ERA.

A high draft pick the next season, Perez walked 70 batters in 103 innings, had a 5.85 ERA and was eventually traded to the Mets in 2006 after struggling to regain that 2004 form.

Then, just as owners were about to give up on him, Perez turned in a 15-10 season with the Mets last year with a 3.56 ERA and 174 strikeouts.

This season has been particularly inconsistent for Perez, who didn't allow a single run in his first two starts. Then, without warning, he allowed at least five runs in four of his next five starts as his ERA ballooned to 4.63. Things bottomed out on June 2 at San Francisco, when the punchless Giants got to Perez for six runs in just 1/3 of an inning, leaving his ERA at 5.70.

Of course, this being Oliver Perez, he has since turned into one of the game's hottest pitchers. Perez (6-6, 4.15 ERA) struck out 12 batters in Thursday's win over the Phillies, allowing one run in 7 2/3 innings. Over his last five starts, the left-hander has a 1.33 ERA and has struck out 39 batters in 33 2/3 innings. The only downside? He is just 1-1 in those five starts.

Still, Perez owners will take it. You never know when that roller coaster is going to come crashing down, so no-decisions are the least of their problems.