Another solid pitching performance shot to hell.
The Mets can fill their shiny new lunchboxes, which were distributed last night as part of a promotional giveaway, with toast — symbolic of their playoff chances, even with a stretch of games against Triple-A competition on the horizon.
Mike Pelfrey gave the Mets an opportunity to salvage a winning homestand, but should have known that without a shutout he would be doomed.
One run, six hits, no hope for the Mets, who lost 3-1 to the Phillies at Citi Field and dropped a season-high 10 games behind the Braves in the NL East.
It was just more of the lethargy that has plagued the Mets since the All-Star break. David Wright and Carlos Beltran were nowhere to be found, and the bottom of the Mets’ lineup might as well have spent the day at Saratoga.
“The frustrating part is it would be nice to pick up our pitchers and score some runs for them,” Wright said. “Pelfrey went out there and battled. It’s a lot of pressure to put on the starting pitcher to go out there and be basically perfect.”
The Mets (58-59) will play their next seven games on the road at Houston and Pittsburgh — two teams that are a combined 53 games below .500 — but even that weak schedule seems irrelevant for a team that lost five of six against the pathetic Diamondbacks in recent weeks. In the wild-card race, the Mets trail San Francisco by eight games, and are behind four other teams.
“Until you get out [of the race], you feel you can put a run together,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “We’ve got enough games and we’re playing some teams that are out of it — sometimes they can be very dangerous — but we should be able to play well.”
Pelfrey (11-7) gave the Mets a second straight quality performance after a dreadful six week stretch in which he did not record a victory. The righty allowed three earned runs on seven hits over seven innings, a night after Pat Misch was victimized by three unearned runs in a 4-0 loss to Roy Halladay.
The Mets entered play batting .212 as a team since the All-Star break — and .103 with runners in scoring position on the homestand — and did nothing against Kyle Kendrick (8-5) and the Phillies’ bullpen to make those numbers seem like a misprint.
Pelfrey trailed 2-1 heading into the sixth and put himself in immediate trouble by allowing a Jayson Werth triple leading off the inning. Carlos Ruiz then smashed a shot past a diving Wright for an RBI single that put Philly ahead by two.
Shane Victorino’s stolen base in the fifth became big when Placido Polanco slapped an RBI single to center that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Victorino singled with two outs and stole second base — the Phillies’ third steal of the night against Josh Thole — to start the rally.
The Mets had tied the game in the third on Jose Reyes’ homer off the screen attached to the right-field foul pole.
Pelfrey put the Mets behind 1-0 in the third on Victorino’s RBI double. The way the Mets are swinging, that almost iced it for the Phillies.
“That doesn’t come into your mindset,” Pelfrey said. “Your mindset is you go out there and try to get people out and throw up zeroes. It doesn’t change with the circumstances.”
mpuma@nypost.com