Though the Mets ultimately chased the once-and-future Cy Young award winner Brandon Webb last night, it must have been disheartening for Willie Randolph to make out his lineup card beforehand. The bottom half of his lineup was given over to the fading Carlos Delgado at first base, the journeyman subs Marlon Anderson and Endy Chavez manning the outfield wings, and the inoffensive catcher Brian Schneider. This is how he would combat the great sinker-baller. Unfortunately, between injuries and poor planning, he had no other choices. Restoring choice and flexibility to the Mets’ roster, regardless of whether or not the team wins any one game or series, will be the challenge of the rest of the season.

At this writing, the Mets lag 7.5 games behind the leaders of both the National League East and wild card races, the Phillies and Cardinals (respectively), who have identical records of 39-27. The teams in front of them are not all that impressive and could very well be toppled, particularly the Cards, who have lost their best pitcher, Adam Wainwright, and perennial MVP candidate, Albert Pujols, to injury. Meanwhile, the Phillies’ pitching is highly variable, the basis of its success being Cole Hamels and an overachieving bullpen. It’s a house of cards that could hold up all season or collapse at any time.

With all engines in reverse, the Mets may not be able to take advantage of either team, should they falter this year. That is emphatically a good thing. The Mets organization has been in denial for a long time. In 2006, they won 97 games with a core that was spectacularly old. David Wright and Jose Reyes were the youthful exceptions to a team that was made up entirely of declining veterans. They tried to win with that same core again in 2007, and got away with it for awhile, until all that comes with age — the declining skills, the increased vulnerability to injury — caught up with them at the end of the season, leading to one of the most devastating September collapses in baseball history.

One final act of self-deception was to come: that the acquisition of Johan Santana would be enough to offset the fading powers of the rest of the roster, and that the team’s first line of replacement for injuries, players like outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitcher Kevin Slowey, would not be missed because somehow Moises Alou, Pedro Martinez, and the rest would not get hurt. Omar Minaya and the Wilpons placed all their chips on one role of the dice, and lost. They lost hard. As the presence of Abraham Nunez, one of the most impotent hitters in baseball history, indicates, the team’s roster was a Potemkin village.

There is no knowing if illusions around Shea have truly shattered. If Willie Randolph is fired, it will be interesting to see if it is billed as an effort to turn the club around for 2008, or a confession that the team no longer needs the win-now/stoic commander of self-motivated veterans that Randolph aspired to be, and now requires a more energetic presence that will be more of a Joe Madden-style builder. The former would indicate continued residence in fantasyland on the part of the suits, the latter a renewed acquaintance with reality.

If reality it is, then the Mets can finally close the books on this period and get back to giving their core of sub-senior citizens — Wright, Reyes, Santana, and Carlos Beltran (for all the disappointment unfairly heaped on him), perhaps even Ryan Church if he can get over his current concussion (you never know with head injuries) — the co-stars they deserve. In short, the Mets have made losing something to look forward to.

Rebuilding won’t be easy. Unless the 2008 draft proves remarkably generous to the Mets, the organization will continue to suffer from the Minaya-instituted diaspora that has seen the fruits of the farm system scattered to the far corners of the Earth. Yet, that rebuilding promises to be more fun to watch, and more honest, than any of the team’s efforts of the last two years, with their false hopes and useless finger-pointing.

The other teams in the division are not built for the long haul. The Nationals are far away from contending. The Phillies’ farm system is thin and the sources of their current success transient. The Braves’ pitching pipeline has long since gone dry and they may lose Mark Teixeira. The mercenaries who run the Marlins are always days away from another fire sale and will be until such time as their new ballpark is built. With smart moves and some luck, the Mets could be right back in it next year. Whatever happens, it will be more fun than trying to watch them win with their current cast of Triple-A castoffs.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for yesnetwork.comand is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.

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METS 5, Diamondbacks 3 Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer with two outs in the 13th inning, and the Mets overcame another blown save by Billy Wagner to snap a five-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory last night over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Mets chased a bruised Brandon Webb early and took advantage of a key error by third baseman Mark Reynolds, who tied it by hitting a three-run shot off Wagner with two outs in the ninth inning.

That cost Mike Pelfrey a win in the best outing of his big league career, but New York refused to fold and avoided falling four games below .500 for the first time since Sept. 17, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.