I took my nine-year-old daughter to Friday night’s demoralizing 7-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. All in all, we enjoyed a beautiful night at the ballpark. That ending, though…

Another wasted, outstanding outing from Jacob deGrom. Another ninth-inning implosion via Edwin Diaz. At the end of the day, just another game down in yet another long season.

And for Lily, another long ride home hearing Dad rant and rave about one more wasted opportunity for this team to find a groove and turn things around.

She gets it, though. This is what being a Mets fan entails; suffering through the constant disappointment and torment for those entirely-too-sporadic moments of glory.

Worse though, is the fact that the on-field troubles are a direct result of inefficiencies at a much higher level, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.

When we got home, I checked Twitter to survey the damage after Friday’s, er, ordeal in Flushing.

Not surprisingly, the shock of these inexplicable losses is less apparent these days. It’s almost as if Mets fans expect this; even, enjoy it. Heck, maybe we do.

Buster Olney of ESPN shared a candid — and not altogether untrue — statement, regarding Mets fandom late Friday night after being prompted with our Metsies as a response to his question, “Which MLB fan base is most resilient?”

“It really is astonishing,” Olney tweeted. “So many friends who are Mets fans, and almost all of them lament their own personal weakness for following, […] yet keep on following; the definition of insanity.”

Naturally, I felt compelled to lend my $.02, because, as noted, we all knew what we were getting into when we decided to root for this team.

Whether we were introduced to this franchise by family, friends, word of mouth, a rare high-water mark, what have you, we all jumped in knowing full-well of the laundry-list of dangers and risks.

For, oh I don’t know, a hundred years or so, there’s been a team across town racking up championships like the Mets bring in washed-up players.

Thanks to that other team, we know what success is supposed to look like. We know what trying to win is supposed to look like. Are we saying we want the Mets to be the Yankees? Definitely not. But a quantifiable effort to compete — not just hope — would be nice.

Not a Yanks fan? I don’t blame you. But there are 28 other teams to root for if you’re fed up; take your pick. But you won’t. You know it and I know it. Neither will I.

Being a Mets fan builds character. We might enjoy a few dozen more libations per season than other MLB fans, but it is what it is.

The payoff, whenever it may come, for all those miserable nights, weeks, months, and years will be sweet, my friends. We’re here for the long-run.

And I’m fully aware that “one-day” scenarios are not what anyone wants to hear right now. But without our collective optimism as a fan base that this will all eventually get better, what else would we have?

We love this team. Even Lily knows what comes along with that.