NEW YORK -- Of the many signs of adversity visible at Shea Stadium on Friday night, none was more ominous than the one the Mets hoisted after they had lost yet again. Everything there was to know about their predicament was captured in two words -- "Help wanted."

Without it, their season essentially is over. And with it, the Mets hardly are assured of playing beyond Sunday afternoon. A month that already had brought them defeat, descent, decline, disappointment and desperation now has produced a deficit, too. They Mets morphed into runners-up when they lost to the Marlins on Friday night, 7-4.

The loss and the Phillies' victory against the Nationals changed the Mets' coordinates to second place in the National League East, one game behind Philly. And given where the Mets were a week ago, second place is the last place they expected to be with two games remaining.

But their fifth straight loss put them there, as well as two games behind the Padres in the NL Wild Card race. Not only that, it also changed their perspective. First place had been in the Mets' clutches for months; now their destiny is out of their hands. They need help if they are to catch the Phillies or have a chance for Wild Card entry into the postseason.

"Nothing we can do now assures us of getting in," David Wright said. "We can play the best baseball we can play for two days and still not get in. We need help now."

The quiet, profoundly sad clubhouse strongly suggested the Mets believe no help is in the offing.

"This was the one [we had to win]," Wright said. "This is the one that would have swung it back to our favor."

In the Mets' view -- vis-a-vis the division and Wild Card races -- their 160th game was the equivalent of the fifth game of a best-of-seven series. Now that they have lost it, the problem has been compounded because they play none of the teams they trail.

Consequently, the Mets spoke and acted as if they had been mathematically eliminated. Their glasses clearly were half empty.

"There's no one to blame but ourselves," Paul Lo Duca said. "What I've read in the papers saying it's [the fault of manager] Willie [Randolph] or the coaches ... is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Us, as players, take responsibility. I know there's people over in the war and there's people dying, and I know this is just a game. But for a game, this is as gut-wrenching as it can be."

It was a poor performance by Oliver Perez that undermined the Mets this time. He struggled and took his first loss this month, allowing two runs in the second, third and fourth innings, while the Mets did little against Byung-Hyun Kim. Perez (15-10) was gone before the Marlins were retired in the fourth.

Perez's inexplicable lack of control made for a remarkable third inning that produced the run the Marlins would need. Perez equaled a big league record by hitting three batters -- two with the bases loaded, and in a five-batter sequence no less. Even Randolph, who seldom acknowledges seeing a baseball first, said, "I've never seen that."

"This was the one [we had to win]. This is the one that would have swung it back to our favor."

-- David Wright

If the two-run home run Jeremy Hermida hit against Perez in the first inning didn't suggest the game wasn't going to turn in the Mets' favor, the two runs in the third did. But it was a misplay by Wright at third base that had greater impact than Perez's lack of precision.

Perez had loaded the bases with none out, allowing a leadoff single by Kim and a double by Hanley Ramirez before hitting Dan Uggla. Hermida then hit a ball that Wright short-hopped. His throw home forced Kim, and Lo Duca's lobbed return throw arrived in time, but Wright wasn't on the base and didn't tag Ramirez -- who hadn't slid.

Perez struck out Miguel Cabrera, celebrating a bit after the third strike. But he then hit Cody Ross and lef-thanded-hitting Mike Jacobs -- hitless in 16 at-bats at the time -- to force in two runs, put the Marlins ahead by three and change the dynamic of the game.

"It's tough to come back even if [Kim] just pitches decent after that," Wright said.

But the Mets did show some resolve. Carlos Beltran hit his 33rd home run, his third in three days, off the scoreboard beyond right-center field. Its impact didn't match its length, though. The Mets' offense, shut out for 14 innings before Friday, produced one more run, on a triple by Luis Castillo and Wright's groundout in the fifth.

The two runs the Marlins scored in the fourth, forcing Perez from the game, were a tad tainted as well. He retired the first two batters, but Ramirez reached on an infield single and Uggla followed with a base hit to right. With two outs, Ramirez was running on contact, and he had every chance of reaching third. But Shawn Green threw to third, nonetheless, and Uggla moved into scoring position.

A walk to Hermida followed before Cabrera singled off Jose Reyes' glove for the runs that put the Marlins' lead at 6-3 and forced Perez out of the game. And a home run by Matt Treanor against Orlando Hernandez in the sixth put Florida's lead at four runs.

By that point, it hardly mattered. A crowd of 55,298 that had tried to motivate the Mets had gone silent, and it remained quiet for most of the rest of the game. The Mets suffered in relative silence then and afterwards.

Wright's voice was singularly audible when he spoke again of the sense of embarrassment.

"It's pretty sad to think of where we were just a week ago, and we had seven home games and we still can't find a way to [get it done]," he said. He called the Mets' season-long home performance -- they have lost 39 of 79 games at Shea -- inexplicable.

And he went on as if the 81st home game had been played.

"I feel sorry for the fans, the front office, ownership, Willie, the coaches," he said. "They deserve better. This is on the players. That's where the blame is."