Terry Collins sat in the Citi Field interview room and answered the first question after the Mets' latest embarrassing defeat, a 9-0 wipeout against the Diamondbacks on Thursday that dropped them back to .500 for the first time since April.

The manager spoke for 3 minutes, 27 seconds, his voice rising with emotion, his hands gesturing and tapping his chest and the table in front of him during a brutal assessment of his players' desire and professionalism.

“Starting tomorrow we're going to get after it here, and those who don't want to get after it, I will find somebody else who does,” he said. “In Las Vegas, there's a whole clubhouse filled with guys who want to sit in this room, and I'll find them. That's all I got to say.”

Following that threat to call up players from the minor leagues, Collins arose, walked back down the corridor to his clubhouse and held a team meeting that lasted about 20 minutes.

The last-place Diamondbacks rolled to a three-game sweep, rattling Noah Syndergaard with four more stolen bases and breaking open the game in a six-run sixth inning against Jon Niese that included Chris Owings' bases-loaded triple.

Fourteen of the Mets' last 15 batters made outs. Missing injured Yoenis Cespedes, Lucas Duda, David Wright and Jose Reyes, the Mets managed five runs and 17 hits in the series. Their .236 batting average is the majors' lowest and they were shut out for the ninth time.

“I don't care who's not here — there are no excuses,” Collins said. “There's got to be a passion to come and play. You owe (that) to the fans (and) organization. The people who pay me are going to see my best effort.”