HOUSTON -- Though the individual components of a win were all present on Saturday, the Mets could not quite keep them assembled. On this night, even Daniel Murphy's sparkling Major League debut could not prevent this latest case of Murphy's Law. Which is precisely what happened at Minute Maid Park: everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and the Mets were left wondering why.

The conclusion, a 5-4 loss in 10 innings to the Astros, marked the Mets' third straight defeat and their fifth in seven games. But how it happened was far more vexing than the fact that it happened. After the dust cleared from Murphy's apparent game-saving catch, and from Ramon Castro's collision at home plate, and from Billy Wagner's seventh blown save, the Mets were left staring at one of their more bizarre losses in months.

"It is a tough loss tonight," Fernando Tatis said. "It's tough for everyone."

Tatis might have taken it toughest, considering that his inability to turn a double play allowed the winning run to score. That's no discredit to Tatis -- it would have taken a well-positioned catch and a perfect throw from left field to nail Lance Berkman, who chugged home with the winning run on Darin Erstad's sacrifice fly. But Tatis, a natural infielder, couldn't come close, catching the line drive and stumbling before throwing.

"It was a tough play, because that's one of the hardest balls to catch in the outfield -- a line drive just coming in." Tatis said. "I think I made a good play, and there's nothing that we can do about it."

The feeling of helplessness is not a baseball player's favorite sensation. Yet so many Mets -- most notably Castro -- felt it on Saturday night.

Castro was catching when Wagner loaded the bases in the ninth inning, before pinch-hitter Geoff Blum sent a line drive to left field. Tatis played that one on a hop, and Mark Loretta, waiting at third base to see if it would drop, broke late for home plate.

Sprinting off second while all this was happening, Hunter Pence nearly passed Loretta on the way to the plate. Then, like a fullback, Loretta bowled Castro to the ground so that both Astros could touch home. Though he never held the ball firmly in his mitt, Castro tried to tag Loretta before spraining his right ankle in the fall.

"I saw the first guy," Castro said, "and then I was on the ground."

On the ground, away from the plate, without any more chances to help win the game. Much of that was due to Wagner, who made the play possible. And with Murphy stalking around Minute Maid Park, the Mets fell in every potential hole.

Though Wagner didn't believe that both Loretta and Pence touched the plate, video replays confirmed that both players did. And though Castro only had to tag home plate to record one out, he never had the ball -- and the Mets never had the win -- firmly in grasp.

"They arrived at the same time, and Loretta's cleats kind of got stuck," Wagner said. "It was truly an accident. It wasn't anything malicious or anything like that."

Aaron Heilman opened the 10th inning by walking Berkman and allowing a single to Loretta, before Pedro Feliciano served up Erstad's line drive.

So much for Johan Santana's win. "Those are things you can't control," Santana said. "Unfortunately in this game, they judge you for that. They criticize winning or losing a game, but that's the way it goes. It's happened in the past, and there's nothing I can really do. I just hope."

His win appeared saved by newcomer Murphy, who joined the Mets before Saturday's game and knocked out his first hit in his first Major League at-bat. Like Tatis, Murphy was unfamiliar with the outfield in general, and with Minute Maid's quirky setup in particular. So when Ty Wigginton hit a fly toward the left-field wall with two men on base in the seventh, Murphy tracked back with a hand out toward the wall.

He touched it, leaped -- a bit early, but plenty high -- and snared the ball, then fired back toward the infield to double up Pence. And at that moment, everything that could have gone right, went right.

"I tried to hang up there as long as I could, and fortunately it went in my glove," Murphy said.

"I thought that was going to be the turning point of the game," manager Jerry Manuel said. "But it wasn't."

Instead, Tatis entered the game, Wagner blew the save, and Murphy's memories of this night will always be somewhat stained. The Marlins and Phillies both won, and the Mets dropped to third place for the first time since early July. What could go wrong did go wrong, and now the Mets will have to work even harder to make it all right.