The Mets have a knack for finding new and inventive ways to lose. Even by their impressive standards, yesterday’s 2-1, 20-inning setback to the Marlins was unique.
It’s not everyday a team goes 0-for-19 with men in scoring position and leaves 22 runners aboard. But that remarkably anemic performance in the clutch is exactly what the tiny crowd at Citi Field was forced to witness for an agonizing six hours and 25 minutes.
Eleven different Mets had chances with men in scoring position, with Rick Ankiel and Omar Quintanilla each going 0-for-3, and Marlon Byrd, Justin Turner, John Buck and Lucas Duda doing the honors twice apiece. They failed in all manners with men aboard, by striking out, hitting into tough luck and failing to move runners over.
“We drove a few balls hard in the outfield — with them playing no-doubles was the difference,” Buck said. “It’s not like we didn’t hit the ball hard. We did strike out a couple of times, didn’t get it done with guys on third. The combination of that obviously isn’t good.”
There were questionable decisions (Buck attempting to bunt in the 13th with Turner on first was one example), one great play by the Marlins and a lot of inability by the Mets to execute fundamentals.
Of course, had Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna not spun as he pulled in Byrd’s drive down the right-field line and gunned down Daniel Murphy at the plate with a laser throw in the 12th, the Mets would not have absorbed their fifth loss in six games.
The Mets continued to flood the base paths after the breathtaking throw, putting a runner in scoring position in five of the next six frames. The Marlins’ bats, by contrast, were very quiet in extra innings, but they made the most of their opportunity in the 20th, stringing three hits together culminating in Adeiny Hechavarria’s game-winning single off Shaun Marcum.
“I wish I could give you all the philosophies we talk about, the things [we] go through, moving runners over, productive outs, using the field to hit, but the bottom line is we’re just not getting it done,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’re not doing the things that got a lot of us to the big leagues.
“We’ve got to be better than that. I wish I had an explanation.”
zbraziller@nypost.com