Tom Glavine was cruising along for the Mets with a two-run lead against Philadelphia before Chase Utley hit a tying homer in the sixth. New York made a couple of late mistakes on defense and lost 3-2 in 10 innings.

Seemed harmless enough. The Mets still held a 5 1/2-game cushion in the NL East and were 20 games above .500 with 16 to play. Go get 'em tomorrow, wrap it up soon.

They never did.

The Phillies completed a three-game sweep and New York went 5-12 down the stretch in one of the most stunning and colossal collapses in baseball history.

"We blew it," Carlos Delgado said today as several Mets packed up for the winter.

An 8-1 loss to Florida in the season finale yesterday — with Glavine getting chased after just one out — allowed the Phillies to win the division title by a game when they beat Washington.

The talented Mets were left out of the playoffs, making them the first major league team that failed to finish in first place after owning a lead of seven games or more with 17 remaining. New York, which had that margin on Sept. 12, also matched the largest lead blown in September.

"It still doesn't feel like the season is over. It feels like we should be playing today, but we didn't make it," pitcher John Maine said.

In a town where the Mets often struggle to take headlines away from the crosstown Yankees, the not-so-Amazin's owned the tabloids today — for all the wrong reasons.

The back page of the New York Post blared: "CHOKED TO DEATH." The front page of the Daily News read: "FROM CHAMPS TO CHUMPS."

"It's hard to figure out how it happened," pitcher Orlando Hernandez said through a translator.

The answer, as always, starts with pitching.

New York's ERA over the final 17 games was 5.96, third-worst in the majors during that span. With Hernandez sidelined by a foot injury and the 41-year-old Glavine fading at the end of his 21st season in the big leagues, the starters rarely got deep into games.

Pedro Martinez performed well after returning from shoulder surgery, but his pitch count was monitored closely, and the Mets insisted on giving him an extra day of rest between outings on the advice of their medical staff.

New York blew big leads in games started by Brian Lawrence and Philip Humber, who made his first major-league start last Wednesday in a crucial situation.

Those problems put pressure on an unreliable and already overworked bullpen, which wilted in September. All-Star closer Billy Wagner wasn't the same in the second half, and he was unavailable because of back spasms when the Mets squandered a 7-4 lead in the ninth inning Sept. 20 at Florida.

The defense made it worse, committing 21 errors during the skid — including a club-record 10 in a two-game span. And when New York got a solid effort from Martinez last Thursday night against St. Louis, the offense was shut down by journeyman Joel Pineiro in a 3-0 loss.

"It was terrible. We played bad baseball," Delgado said.

Team meetings didn't help. Star players such as David Wright and Jose Reyes made mental errors at key moments. Slumping hitters didn't hustle out of the batter's box all the time

And the frustration began to show. Fiery catcher Paul Lo Duca was ejected from a game, then Marlon Anderson and Lastings Milledge were suspended after heated arguments with umpires.

"I think we learned a lesson," Delgado said. "I think we have to play harder. We need to find a way to stay focused and stay sharp for 162 games."

So who's to blame? Is it manager Willie Randolph, who maintained a calm public demeanor throughout the massive slide? GM Omar Minaya, who constructed this aging team with a deficient bullpen? Or the players, who perhaps took success for granted?

Remember, it was only a year ago that the Mets advanced to Game 7 of the NL championship series before losing 3-1 to St. Louis.

"You say to yourself, `You know what? We're better than an 88-win team,"' Minaya said during a lengthy news conference. "But it's not only about talent."

Even when pressed, Minaya wouldn't say for certain that Randolph will be back next season. The GM said he's happy with Randolph's body of work for the past three years, but first must present his overall review to ownership.

Minaya did say he spoke with Randolph today and their relationship is "excellent." Randolph wasn't at Shea Stadium.

"All of us at the Mets are bitterly disappointed in failing to achieve our collective goal of building upon last year's success. We did not meet our organization's expectations — or those of our fans," chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said in a statement.

"We will be meeting with Omar shortly for him to present his plan on addressing our shortcomings so that we can achieve our goal of winning championships in 2008 and beyond."

The team also sent an e-mail to fans with a similar message, thanking them for their support and saying they "deserve better results."