Mets tack on yet another loss as season continues to careen out of control

OG Anunoby recently experienced the exhilaration that the Mets haven’t felt in 40 years. And they seem a ways away from experiencing it again, considering that they reside in the NL East basement and are on the outskirts of the race to draw the last wild card in the deck.

The Knicks won their first championship in 53 years earlier this month, with Anunoby helping to make it happen. He averaged 21.2 points in the NBA Finals against San Antonio and delivered his fabulous flying tip with 1.2 seconds showing on the clock to cap the stirring 29-point comeback in Game 4.

Now he was at Citi Field on Sunday, on hand to exchange jerseys with his favorite former Met, Jose Reyes, and to throw the first pitch to Reyes.

“When I was a kid, when I first started playing baseball, one of the first video games I got was MLB 2K8 and Jose was on the cover,” Anunoby said.“I used to just always do franchise mode with him, steal a bunch of bases, get a bunch of hits, win World Series. So yeah, just from there, my favorite player.”

The Mets aren’t being touted as World Series contenders in a season that has gone very wrong, costing manager Carlos Mendoza his job on Friday.

At the moment, they’re in a 29-point hole.

But this team hasn’t given up on its own stirring comeback even though it’s on the clock (the trade deadline for buyers and sellers is Aug. 3) and it looks very unlikely.

After Anunoby threw, the Mets lost. Kyle Schwarber hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh off Kodai Senga, the Mets went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded 14, and Philadelphia won the rubber game, 5-4.

That left the Mets with a 1-6 homestand, a 35-49 record and a 9 1⁄2-game deficit with eight teams in front of them for that last wild card. In the National League, only the Rockies have a worse record.

“Look, we’re not oblivious to where we’re at in the standings and our record,” A.J. Minter, a bright spot in a strong bullpen, told Newsday. “But at the same time, we still have a month to turn things around. We’re not as far back as people think we are.

“I truly believe if we get five games out of the wild card, I do believe we can potentially go out there and make a run at this thing and not necessarily be sellers.”

Minter is a free agent-to-be and therefore a candidate to go, but the 32-year-old lefty wants to be back.

“I want to win a World Series,” Minter said. “That’s my No. 1 goal. I want to play for a great team and that’s why I signed here. I still truly believe this roster has what it takes to make a run in the postseason.”

Andy Green, the interim manager since Friday, is trying to create an atmosphere conducive to winning. He wants to attempt to ease some of the pressure and build bonds with the players.

“He’s [done] a good job of just going around and talking to guys,” Minter said. “We came in and he ate breakfast with me the other day, just asked about family and life. Just getting to know guys as fast as he can and building that trust.”

Green spoke to the team Friday. “We haven’t gone to war early on this season, so I’ve got to build your guys’ trust early,” he told the players, according to Minter.

“And that’s what he’s trying to do,” Minter said. “So it’s been great.”

Of course, it also takes players to stop underperforming and start getting healthy.

Take Jorge Polanco.

David Stearns signed him to play first and try to help fill the cavernous pit in the lineup caused by pushing out Pete Alonso. But he hasn’t played for the Mets since April 14.

Polanco, who had a bruised wrist and Achilles bursitis, began a second rehab assignment Saturday as a designated hitter with Syracuse. The first one ended earlier this month because of ankle soreness, but Polanco believes he will be able to complete this one.

“There’s still pain there,” he said via an interpreter, “but it’s pain that I feel like I can tolerate, that I can play through.”

This latest game was another one filled with frustration.

It was a bullpen game for the Mets. The banished-to-the-pen Senga threw four scoreless innings out of five in his first career relief outing, but MLB’s home run leader got him. It was the 30th for Schwarber.

A.J. Ewing had tied it with his first career pinch homer, a two-run drive in a three-run sixth. Carson Benge put the Mets ahead 4-3 with an RBI forceout.

But the Mets left nine runners in scoring position. They loaded the bases with one out in the fifth but couldn’t score, stranded runners on second and third in the seventh and loaded the bases with one out in the eighth on three walks, but Ronny Mauricio popped up and Francisco Alvarez struck out.

Green summed it up this way: “I saw a bunch of guys taking aggressive passes and just missing pitches.”