MLB

Phillies pummel Pelfrey; Mets rally comes up short

PHILADELPHIA — Mike Pelfrey wearing the “Mets ace” label has all the authenticity of Snooki performing Shakespeare.

Last night Pelfrey was a Merchant of Menace, to his own team, overshadowing a Mets’ comeback from a seven-run deficit. In the end it went only as a tough Mets’ loss, 10-7 to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

“I was bad last week and I was even worse tonight,” Pelfrey said after allowing seven runs, six earned, over two-plus innings. “I let them down again. I definitely have to be better than I have been.”

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Pelfrey, who allowed five runs in his Opening Night loss to the Marlins, refrained from criticizing catcher Josh Thole, but it’s clear the two were on different wavelengths. Manager Terry Collins later told The Post it’s a situation that will be addressed and rectified before Pelfrey’s next start.

Collins didn’t assign blame to either party. Pelfrey was upset he didn’t shake off Thole enough, leaving the pitcher to throw more curveballs and sliders than he would have liked.

“I went along with everything,” Pelfrey said. “It’s totally on me as the pitcher.”

But Thole said he stuck to the same script the tandem used throughout spring training. The catcher said he didn’t call for more fastballs because Pelfrey was often behind in the count, and the Phillies would have been sitting on the hard stuff.

“We couldn’t get in the right counts to use the fastball,” Thole said.

Blaine Boyer (0-1) allowed two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, and the Mets didn’t have an answer after rebounding from a 7-0 deficit to tie the game. The comeback was capped by a five-run rally in the fifth against Joe Blanton. But that’s where the Mets stalled.

Placido Polanco’s RBI single — just off Carlos Beltran’s outstretched glove — with two outs in the bottom of the fifth put the Phillies ahead again. Ryan Howard then slapped a single off Boyer’s glove, for his fourth hit of the game, to score Polanco from second on a ball that didn’t leave the infield. Ben Francisco’s homer leading off the sixth extended the Phillies’ lead to 10-7.

Beltran said he got a good jump on Polanco’s ball.

“As soon as he hit it, I thought I was going to be able to [catch] it,” Beltran said. “It bounced before it hit my glove.”

The Phillies were cruising, leading 7-2, when the Mets came charging in the fifth to tie the game. Blanton never got the two outs he needed and saw his night conclude with seven earned runs allowed on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings.

David Wright and Beltran each had an RBI single in the inning. Ike Davis’ two-run double made it 7-6, and Daniel Murphy, batting for the second time in the inning, tied the game with an RBI single against Antonio Bastardo.

“I was very proud of the way we came back,” Collins said.

Angel Pagan helped raise the Mets from the dead an inning earlier by hitting a two-run homer against Blanton, after Beltran was hit by a pitch.

A Pelfrey throwing error in the second helped the Phillies score an unearned run. Blanton blooped a sacrifice bunt that Pelfrey let fall in front of him in an attempt to get a double play. But Pelfrey threw wild to first base. Pete Orr reached third and Blanton second before Polanco delivered an RBI single.

“It’s only two starts, we can’t overreact right now,” Collins said. “But I know [Pelfrey] will do better.”

mpuma@nypost.com