SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets did some soul searching Saturday night and it didn’t help.
They lost another game in a terrible way.
Then they sent rookie catcher Travis d’Arnaud back to Triple-A Las Vegas — and he didn’t even play in this monstrosity of a game.
“I have to go down and find my swing,’’ said a shaken d’Arnaud, who is hitting .180.
Some other Mets had better find answers to their woes quickly as they lost 5-4 to the Giants at AT&T Park with San Francisco scoring twice in the ninth to steal the victory, a winning rally that was started by a strikeout, of all things, but that’s the way of Mets Baseball.
If they build it, it will collapse.
Former Met Angel Pagan struck out to lead off the ninth against Jenrry Mejia, but the ball bounced in the dirt and got away from catcher Anthony Recker as Pagan reached first base safely.
Hunter Pence then doubled to drive in Pagan to tie the score, 4-4 on a night of miscues for the Mets, including a critical throwing error by David Wright on what he called “a bonehead play’’ and some terrible base-running that looked like dogs roaming free at the dog park that stymied what could have been a huge inning in the third.
After a fly out moved Pence to third in the ninth and an intentional walk, Michael Morse drove a single to deep right-center for the Giants’ win and the most heartbreaking of Mets losses.
The Mets held a team meeting before the game at which manager Terry Collins, Wright and Curtis Granderson spoke. The message was a positive one that the sky is not falling.
Then the sky fell.
On a night the Mets made critical errors, were 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position, made key baserunning mistakes and talked things over as a team, they still managed to suffer their worst loss of the year.
Collins had this message for his team before the game:
“We’re still in striking range, the world is not coming to an end just yet so we have to keep our heads up and realize, ‘Hey look, let’s go win four or five in a row,’ ” he said. “Everybody was talking about how bad the Cubs are and they just won their fifth straight. You got to keep battling and keep your head up. … Put a smile on when you walk through the door, what a great life we lead.’’
This wasn’t great.
“Our guys are trying so hard to succeed they are making mistakes,’’ Collins told The Post after the loss.
A lot has been made of d’Arnaud hitting .180, but the Mets don’t need to blame their woes on the rookie. It is time the veterans came through for the Mets, and there were not enough big hits again Saturday night.
The Mets have many problems hitting and d’Arnaud is just one of them. From a rookie, you only can expect so much, and because the more veteran bats haven’t produced, d’Arnaud’s shortcomings were in the spotlight.
“He’s a rookie,’’ one Mets official said of d’Arnaud, “the other guys have to step up.’’
Yes, they do, and therein lies the biggest problem with the Mets. In a season of mediocrity in the NL East, they are letting a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. Saturday night they once again did just enough to lose.
The Mets are 28th in the majors extra-base hits and 28th in total bases.
Giants starter Tim Hudson struggled mightily, but the Mets couldn’t put him away. Recker, subbing for d’Arnaud, knocked in two runs and Lucas Duda added the other RBI. Matt den Dekker scored the fourth run on a wild pitch.
The Mets have had 40 quality starts, the second most in the majors, and for all that starting pitching, they own a 28-34 record. The Braves, who lead the NL East with a 32-28 mark, by far the lowest winning percentage (.533) of any division leader — lead the majors with 43 quality starts.
The Mets are walking the razor’s edge and are in danger of again becoming New York’s Most Irrelevant Team.