MLB

NAT THE WAY THEY WANTED

With the Phillies idle, there was nothing on the out-of-town scoreboard for the Mets to watch last night. Instead, they only had their own score to look at.

Considering the way they played, a blackout would have been welcomed. The Nationals handed the Mets a 13-4 loss at Shea Stadium, ending the Mets’ three-game winning streak as Philadelphia inched closer in the NL East standings. The Mets’ lead is two games and their magic number remains at five.

“We just came out flat tonight,” Paul Lo Duca said. “There’s just no excuse. You can’t expect to win a division the way we played and the way we’ve been playing.”

The Mets returned from Florida with the NL East title within their grasp – not that you’d know it from the drowsy atmosphere at Shea. Instead of seizing the crown, though, they continue to look like a dog chasing its tail – not quite able to reach its goal.

The loss was the third in eight days to Washington. The Mets lost two out of three last week in the nation’s capital. It also was their fourth straight loss at Shea and fifth in their last six home games.

The offense that had carried them for the last week finally failed to produce enough runs to overcome the team’s shoddy pitching before 49,164 fans at Shea.

Starter Mike Pelfrey lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on five hits and five walks with three strikeouts. The big blow came in the fifth inning with the Nationals leading 2-1. Pelfrey got the first two outs of the inning immediately, then walked Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Church.

Austin Kearns took a 2-1 hanging slider and blasted it to the left-field bleachers to give the Nationals a four-run lead.

Pelfrey walked two more in the sixth before Willie Randolph pulled him. But the bullpen was even worse. Joe Smith replaced Pelfrey and gave up a two-run double to Ronnie Belliard on his second pitch to make it 7-1. Guillermo Mota gave up three runs in the eighth and Dave Williams finished it off, giving up a three-run home run in the ninth to Ryan Langenrhans.

The Mets had 12 hits but stranded 11 runners, seven in scoring position.

The loss left the Mets baffled again at their inability to close out this pennant race. They returned home off an emotional victory in Florida on Sunday, but last night there was no carryover.

“It’s embarrassing, with the season on the line and seven games left, to go out there and get embarrassed on our home field,” David Wright said.

The incredible-shrinking NL East lead that was seven games on Sept. 12 is down to two. The Phillies open a three-game series with Atlanta tonight. The Mets have allowed Philadelphia to stay in the race, making these final six games meaningful.

“We could have put the screws in two weeks ago,” Lo Duca said. “We could have put the screws in again tonight, three games up with six games to go. We didn’t. We keep on making it hard on ourselves.”

The Mets now turn to Tom Glavine to give them a quality start. If the Mets lose tonight and the Phillies win, they would face the frightening prospect of sending Philip Humber to the mound for his first career start tomorrow with a one-game lead.

Randolph kept his usual cool after the game and said he’s not worried about his team’s sense of urgency.

“No, we’ve got the rest of the week,” Randolph said. “We’ve got tomorrow and the next day. We wanted to come out and play better tonight but, obviously, it didn’t work out that way.”

Some of his players were not as forgiving when it came to their performance.

“It really surprised me,” Lo Duca said. “It’s very frustrating. We just didn’t come out with any fire tonight.”

brian.costello@nypost.com