WASHINGTON — Say this for the Mets: They’re losing, but at least they’re quick about it.
Jerry Manuel’s putrid, Triple-A level lineup needed just 2 hours, 9 minutes to work its way through a 4-0 embarrassment at the hands of the worst team in baseball last night.
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Not only did the Mets go down meekly to the 27-66 Nationals, but they also went down in the record books, as Washington starter John Lannan became the first pitcher in the two-year history of Nationals Park to throw a complete-game shutout.
And the Mets know a thing or two about shutouts: They were blanked for the fifth time in the past 13 games and the ninth time overall this season. Ugh.
“It’s a very, very, very staggering stat by today’s standards in baseball,” Manuel said. “It’s staggering when you see teams scoring a lot of runs, while we seem to be saving ours for the next day.”
The Mets basically have run out of next days, at least in terms of making the playoffs. Last night’s loss combined with a Philadelphia win over the Cubs put the Mets 10 games behind in the NL East for the first time this season.
Oliver Perez walked six, giving him 17 walks in 17 innings since he returned to the rotation, and fell to 2-3 despite allowing just four hits — all singles — in six innings.
“I thought Ollie had good stuff,” Manuel said. “Obviously, that one inning [a two-run Washington fourth] kind of got away. But for the most part, his pitches had life on them.”
Perez shrugged off the walks, saying they “are part of the game.”
“I’m throwing all my pitches out there, and that’s important,” he said.
Perez lost his second consecutive decision because the Mets once again were no match for the left-handed Lannan, a Long Island native who turned in the first complete-game shutout by a National since Pedro Astacio against Atlanta on Aug. 15, 2006.
Lannan also didn’t allow an extra-base hit, giving up six singles while picking up his second complete-game win over the Mets at Nationals Park in six weeks.
“He’s been difficult,” David Wright said of Lannan (7-7). “He doesn’t really stick to one gameplan. He goes at you a number of different ways, and he throws a lot of strikes. A lot can be learned by watching him pitch. He really keeps hitters off balance.”
Lannan mowed down the Mets, who appeared to lose both heart and interest after recently acquired center fielder Nyjer Morgan robbed Wright of extra bases with a leaping grab in the third with two on and two out in a scoreless game.
With the Mets repeatedly swinging early in the count, Lannan used terrific command and an even better sinker to induce a whopping 16 ground-ball outs.
“We probably could have been a little more patient early, but Lannan has been very tough on us this year,” Manuel said. “He has our number at this point. He commands his off-speed stuff and just constantly pounds the strike zone.”
The Mets also seemed to quickly deflate after Gold Glove-winning right fielder Jeff Francoeur dropped a ball by Adam Dunn in the fifth inning to pave the way for the Nationals’ third run.
The miscue wasn’t ruled an error, but it felt like one to Francoeur. In a malaprop that basically sums up this disastrous season, he said the misplay was “unexcusable.”
The Mets can’t even get their adjectives right these days.
bhubbuch@nypost.com