PHILADELPHIA — It’s bad enough the Mets haven’t delivered clutch hits nearly enough and that their starting rotation has been among MLB’s worst this season.

But defensive lapses have transformed this bunch into a modern version of the Bad News Bears.

The laugh track was a necessity Friday night as the Mets were bungling their way through a 5-1 loss to the Phillies. It’s a theme that has become all too common for a team wallowing in fourth place, and that, with each passing day, appears more likely to finish last in the NL East than rebound for a playoff berth.

Brandon Nimmo dropped a fly ball off Kyle Schwarber’s bat in the first inning, helping the Phillies score two unearned runs. And with the Mets still sniffing at the Phillies’ lead in the sixth, Francisco Lindor backed off a Brandon Marsh pop-up that fell in front of Tommy Pham, opening the gate for three additional runs. Kodai Senga certainly deserved better.

The metamorphosis over the last few weeks had been downright startling. Nimmo saved games for the Mets earlier this season with his fancy glove work, but for the second time in just over a week, he helped cost them a game because he couldn’t handle a relatively routine play in center. The other occurred in the Subway Series, in which Nimmo’s misplay on a similar ball allowed the tie-breaking run.

Lindor has underwhelmed at the plate this season, but the Mets could largely count on his defense. And yet there he was staring in surprise as Marsh’s ball hit the ground in the sixth, after he had tracked it for most of its flight.

“That one is on me,” Lindor said. “I usually tell my outfielders, ‘I’m going all the way until I hear you call me off.’ I went back and [Pham] never said anything. … I heard the crowd getting louder and louder so I was assuming he was getting closer, but it’s on me. I should have taken full charge of the ball and it’s a pop-up that I have made many times. It’s on me. I should have taken charge of the ball and I take full responsibility on that.”

All of that came after a sloppy performance on Wednesday in Houston, a game in which the Mets committed two errors on top of Pete Alonso’s baserunning flub: he was called out for running outside the baseline. These Mets have become difficult to watch.

The responsibility falls everywhere, including on a manager whose teams traditionally have excelled on fundamentals. But Buck Showalter’s 2023 Mets can’t get out of their own way.

“You have the majority of people that usually execute really well,” Showalter said.

The backdrop to all of this was the trade of Eduardo Escobar to the Angels — a deal the Mets announced during the second inning — for two minor league pitchers. The trade was more an opportunity for the Mets to unload a veteran player buried on the bench than a signal that general manager Billy Eppler has begun a fire sale, but you could easily see it reaching that point in the next few weeks.

Since they completed a three-game sweep of these Phillies on June 1, the Mets are 4-14 and have managed to fall 14 games behind the Braves in the NL East. The Mets’ season isn’t scheduled to reach the midway point until Thursday and already they have been reduced to hoping for a run of success that can put them in the wild-card mix.

Blind faith would be the only reason to believe such a run is possible at this point. The Mets have simply found too many ways to lose, with mental miscues now arising as a culprit that can rival the inconsistent bats and pitching arms.

“We are a much better team than what we are showing right now,” Lindor said.

Those words have been consistent from the Mets’ clubhouse during this horrid stretch. They also become harder to believe with each passing game.