The Mets, prior to their most recent series against the Pirates, had not lost a series since Aug. 16. This past week the Shea Slammers took two out of three against the Marlins, and in the process probably dashed any hopes the Marlins had at a wild card berth. Unfortunately for Carlos Delgado, only pitchers are awarded wins, as he singlehandedly won — with an assist or two from the Marlins’ spectacularly bad defense — two of those games, driving in clutch runs in the late innings twice.

The Mets, in poor offensive fashion, just dropped three games to the Pirates despite promising outings from John Maine and Orlando Hernandez, both of whom went at least seven innings each and did not give up more than three runs. The offense fell silent against the Pirates’ talented young lefties; when Randy Johnson got wind of this, he sent out orders for a seven-man expedition to begin searching for the fountain of youth.

Although the disputes between the co-authors of this column are usually centered on whether Brooke Schneider is just hot, or sooooo hot, we were unable to reconcile our differences on our respective outlooks of the Mets’ playoff readiness.

Joe, ever the realist, feels the Mets’ pitching staff is a considerable liability and could pose a serious threat to the presumed fast track to the World Series. Although El Duque has been stellar since the All-Star break, his first-half performance dictates a measured optimism of his ability to perform in the playoffs — remember that when the Amazins acquired El Duque from the Diamondbacks, his ERA hovered around where Jessica Alba would register on a 1-10 scale of attractiveness.

Pedro has been reeling from injuries all year, his fastball brushes up on 90 maybe once or twice a game and he was most recently destroyed by the Pirates, who, as a qualifier, do have the best record in the NL Central since the All-Star break. He has shown me nothing the last two months to inspire confidence. Tom Glavine, who is as great an American as you can find, and I loath to admit, has been inconsistent. He does not get the same borderline pitch calls from umpires that he used to, and the blood clot in his throwing shoulder is hurting him more than QuesTech. Steve Traschel has 14 wins, and must have sold his soul to someone because his ERA is 5.17 and his pitching prowess is probably worse than that number indicates. The offense has proved clutch, but this style of pitching, or lack thereof, alarms me.

Zach, who makes decisions based on verdicts furnished from a Magic 8 ball, believes that the Mets can kick it on whenever they want to. They have arguably — quite arguably — the best 3-4-5 hitters in the majors in Carols Beltran, Delgado and David Wright. And do not overlook what Jose Reyes brings to this team. He could be the first 20-home run, 20-steal, 20-triple guy in MLB history, which, for those of you with a low baseball intelligence quotient (aka Yankees fans), means that as his plate discipline progresses, he has the potential to be an MVP, as well as the potential to be the best shortstop in N.Y. — sooner rather than later.

As long as there are no 19-year-old girls from Long Island in the immediate proximity, Paul Lo Duca should continue his hot hitting into the playoffs. The Mets have not played a meaningful game in quite some time, so guys like Anderson Hernandez, a B-Met in 2005, and lefty Oliver Perez, obtained at the trading deadline, have been getting significant playing time. Once the games start to matter again, David, the Carlos brothers, the two Jose’s, El Duque and the gang will start to play for real again.

In the wild card race — nobody cares. But let’s hope Ryan Howard isn’t a force to contend with in the playoffs, and instead they hold onto their slim lead and we get a homecoming for Piazza.