Mets Stumble Against Marlins After Sweeping Yankees Alan Diaz/Associated Press Marlon Byrd, right, was caught stealing in the fifth as the Mets lost for the first time in six games. MIAMI - All week, the Mets had not looked like themselves, and certainly not like a team with only 17 victories a week ago. After a five-game losing streak last week, things changed quickly and unexpectedly. The Mets won five straight from Sunday through Thursday, beating the Atlanta Braves in the last game of a series before stunning the Yankees with a four-game sweep in their annual Subway Series, a feat they had never accomplished and one that knocked the Yankees out of first place. Just as quickly, the Mets reverted to their losing ways Friday night. Against the Miami Marlins, the team with the major leagues" worst record, the Mets looked like the club that had lost five straight. The Marlins won, 5-1, in a game that resembled many of the Mets" other 29 defeats this season. Starting pitcher Shaun Marcum, who had struggled this year after signing as a free agent in the off-season, was masterly through six innings, yielding three hits and no runs. It all unraveled in the seventh, when the Marlins managed four hits and a walk to push across four runs and undo Marcum and the Mets. Marcum's record fell to 0-6, and his earned run average is 5.71. Though Marcum surrendered four hits in the seventh, the middle two were bloop singles. "Frustrating," Marcum said afterward. It's more frustrating when you make quality pitches and have bloopers fall in. If I'm going to lose, I'd rather make a mistake and have them hit it over the fence, rather than make well-located pitches and have them fall in. Rather than focusing on Marcum's pitching performance, Manager Terry Collins discussed his team's lack of offense, which produced only an eighth-inning run. By then, Marcum was out of the game. "We didn't give him much to work with," Collins said. The loss included the end of an impressive streak by Mets pitchers. The staff entered the game having not walked a batter since Monday night against the Yankees. Going three games without a base on balls tied a franchise record and was something accomplished only three other times in team history - once in 1968 and twice in 1994. That streak continued until the fifth inning Friday night. Even then, it ended intentionally. The Marlins opened the inning with singles from Marcell Ozuna and Chris Coghlan. When Ed Lucas sacrificed the runners over with a bunt, Marcum intentionally walked Greg Dobbs to load the bases, with the intent of setting up a double play. Sure enough, Jeff Mathis bounced into a routine, inning-ending double play that preserved Marcum's shutout, even though the no-walk streak ended at 31 innings. The next inning, Marcum again walked Dobbs. This time, though, he simply chose to pitch around Dobbs with first base open, throwing four straight balls just out of the strike zone to load the bases. "With Mathis on deck, we got him to hit into a double play earlier in the game, so I had the same mind-set when I fell behind him," Marcum said. I wasn't going to give in to him at that point. I figured I'll take my chances with Mathis. But he ended up getting enough on it where he got a sacrifice fly. The Marlins then pinch-hit for pitcher Jacob Turner, sending Jordan Brown to the plate. Brown delivered a double, reaching outside the strike zone to punch the ball into left-center field. The Mets could not recover, and their unlikely winning streak ended at five games. Though Marcum is 0-6, Collins said he was pleased with what he had seen from him lately, citing quality location - including the decisive pitch to Brown. "Even that was a pretty good pitch," Collins said. It's just one of those nights where he kept us in the game, gave us a chance. We didn't mount much offense. But I certainly wasn't disappointed with the way Shaun pitched.