This was in the top of the third inning in Queens on Sunday, where and when a bad baseball team played a very bad baseball game.

That would be the Mets.

Chris Flexen, overmatched upon being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas for his first big-league start of the season, had allowed a two-out Mallex Smith one-hop double off the left-field wall to bring in the fifth Tampa Bay run of the afternoon.

A few fans roused themselves from the lethargy that had largely enveloped the ballpark (and the home team) and made their displeasure known. This produced a familiar sound. It took a minute to identify, but yes, this was the same sound that mostly indifferent fictional fans had generated in booing the fictional New York Knights in their fictional home stadium in the movie version of “The Natural.”

No Bump Bailey’s perishing after running through the wall, that much is true, but wait a second … didn’t Jose Bautista crash through an unlocked bullpen gate in right field in the first inning Friday night? Why, yes he did.

More to the point, though, there is no Roy Hobbs on the bench itching for his chance to prove his worth as the greatest hitter there ever was. By the way? It was Hobbs who walked out of a pregame motivational meeting presented by some two-bit carney hypnotist. Pop Fisher, fictional manager of the fictional Knights, responded by giving Hobbs his shot. Wonder what Mickey Callaway, real-life manager of the real-life Mets, would have done had one of his players walked out of that early June pregame motivational address delivered by an author?

The Mets did not put a major league product on the field Sunday. It was 9-0 Rays in a game that was every bit as much of an eyesore as the score connotes. Fourteen of the first 27 men who came to the plate reached base against Flexen and Chris Beck. Meanwhile, one-time Yankee Nathan Eovaldi retired the first 18 men he faced en route to a seven-inning, one-hit performance.

It wasn’t just the feeble work in the box by the Mets, who finished the weekend with an 18-inning scoreless streak in the wake of suffering consecutive shutouts. Once again, the defense was lousy. This time, it was Michael Conforto who seemed to have no concept of what hitting a cutoff man is all about.

A day after Amed Rosario had no clue what base to throw to after tracking a pop fly that dropped into the outfield, Conforto heaved one from right field wide of third base when he had no chance to get Joey Wendle trying to advance from second on C.J. Cron’s relatively deep fly. That allowed Matt Duffy to go from first to second on the throw.

Every day, there is something amiss in the field with this bunch, whether guys are a’missing cutoff men or a’missing the ball. Asdrubal Cabrera botched a pretty easy one in the fifth inning to allow Eovaldi to reach base on what was generously called a run-scoring single.

When young people get the call in The Bronx, they seem polished and prepared to play winning baseball. That doesn’t seem to be the case on the other side of the East River. The Mets are 14th in the NL (ahead of the Phillies) and 28th in the majors (ahead also of the Orioles) in Defensive Runs Saved, -55 according to FanGraphs. Fundamentally, this may be the worst team in baseball. If they are not necessarily getting worse, they are sure not getting any better at this.

Conforto was in right field for the fifth time so Dominic Smith, the ghost of first-base past, present and future, could get his sixth start in left field while Wilmer Flores was at first base against the righty Eovaldi in his 11th straight showcase start. The 23-year-old Smith, who had started two games since June 26 and had gotten 11 at-bats in the interim, went 0-for-3 and struck out three times.

The Mets got two hits while the Rays drew nine walks. The Mets are 0-11-3 in their last 14 series. They are 3-17 in their last 20 home games. They are 8-25 beginning since May 25, and 24-50 since their 11-1 start. At 35-51, the Mets are on track for a 66-96 record that would represent the franchise’s second straight 90 plus-loss season.

But by all means, let’s double down on the philosophy that produced these last two rosters. It is only natural.