Jerry Manuel says there’s no alternative for him as a manager and no alternative for Ryan Church as a player.

The skidding Church is going to keep playing. Manuel just needs him to deliver more.

“I really don’t have a lot of choices with him. He’s got to step up,” Manuel said after last night’s crushing 9-6 10-inning loss. “It’s that simple. It’s this time of the season where you have to step up.”

The last thing Church is doing right now, though, is ascending. He was miserable last night, and it wasn’t just that he went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. It was that he failed in three spots with men on base, with two of those at-bats coming in critical situations.

Church is in a 6-for-37 funk that includes 12 strikeouts.

“Just don’t have it right now,” he said. “I’m searching for it, trying to find it.”

Last night, Church flied out and grounded out his first two times up, but nobody was on base. After that, he came up in bigger spots. But his luck didn’t change at all.

In the sixth inning, Carlos Beltran led off with a walk, but Church followed by striking out. Beltran eventually got to third base but was left stranded.

Church came up again in a key spot in the eighth. Carlos Delgado was on third, Beltran was on first and nobody was out with the Mets down a run. A fly ball would have tied the score. Church struck out swinging.

Then in the ninth, with the bases loaded, one out and the game tied, Church had a shot to be the hero. Instead? He was a goat again, grounding into a force play.