MLB

GARLAND DOMINATES AFTER DELAY

This is not what teams on the fringe of the wild-card race do if they want to stay on the fringe of said wild-card race.

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They don’t go down meekly at home for the second time in three games to a fourth-place opponent that began this series 14 games under .500.

And they certainly don’t roll over virtually in lockstep against a pitcher who came in with just one victory since May 19.

But that is Jerry Manuel’s plight after the Mets mustered just seven hits in a rain-delayed, 5-2 loss to the lowly Diamondbacks at half-empty Citi Field. Well, make that the equally lowly Diamondbacks.

The Mets can’t look down on too many teams — even in the woeful NL — with an offense that’s slipping back to its pop-gun ways after a recent uptick.

And once again, the Mets made a struggling pitcher look like an All-Star. Right-handed sinkerballer Jon Garland needed just 106 pitches to throw the 10th complete game of his 10-year career. Garland was 1-8 since May 19, but Manuel’s punchless lineup barely made him break a sweat yesterday.

“[Garland] was painting away, painting in,” said Jeff Francoeur, whose fourth homer in 19 games as a Met was one of the few highlights. “He did a great job of keeping everybody off-balance and never really letting anyone get comfortable.”

Garland’s success was to be expected, though, because sinkerballers have dominated the Mets this season.

“Right now, it’s a mystery to me,” Manuel said when asked to explain the Mets’ helplessness against sinkerballers. “Those guys have given us tremendous fits.”

The Mets had their own sinkerballer on the mound in Mike Pelfrey, but he was the complete flipside to Garland when it came to pitching efficiently.

Pelfrey labored from the outset, which resulted in him lasting just five innings despite giving up three runs.

Blame it on the high pitch count — Pelfrey threw one more pitch than Garland’s 106 in four fewer innings.

“He didn’t really put hitters away,” Manuel said of Pelfrey. “He’ll [have to] learn to be economical with his pitches. To have 100-pitch totals after five innings gets very rough on your bullpen.”

Pelfrey, who remained winless in three career decisions against Arizona and lost for the third time in his past four outings overall, offered no excuses.

“I thought I had good stuff, and I trust my stuff, but I just made some mistakes and they made me pay for it,” he said after falling to 8-7. “It’s kind of frustrating. The name of the game is executing pitches, but I got away from it again today.”

Not even the return of team home-run leader Gary Sheffield could awaken a Mets offense that erupted for nine runs Saturday but didn’t bother to show up after yesterday’s 2 hour, 28 minute rain delay.

Sheffield entered as a pinch-hitter with one out in the fifth and the tying run at third in Alex Cora after the Mets had fought back in the inning to cut the Arizona lead to 3-2.

Sheffield laced one of the hardest-hit balls all day by a Met, but it was right at first baseman Chad Tracy.

“The turning point for us was when [Sheffield] smoked that ball right there,” Francoeur said. “Another inch and you’ve got a runner at second base with a 3-3 game and the momentum swinging your way.”

Sheffield didn’t get that extra inch, though, and Garland cruised from there.

“The sinkerball guys have really given us a lot of trouble,” Manuel said. “The guy that keeps a lot of stuff on the ground — we’ve yet to solve that particular guy this year.”

And their microscopic playoff hopes are paying the price.

bhubbuch@nypost.com