These days, the New York Mets are not having any trouble finding new and creative ways to lose. Even by their impressive standards, this past weekend’s series against the Miami Marlins was unprecedented.

In 30 innings over two days, the Marlins swept a two-game series from the Mets at Citi Field. To put into perspective just how bad things have gotten for the Mets, the Marlins are 8-3 against them and 10-41 against the rest of baseball this season. That’s telling.

The Subway Series, which gets underway on Monday at Citi Field and concludes Thursday at Yankee Stadium, is a great way to take stock of our two Major League Baseball franchises. Last June the Mets dropped five out of six games against the Yankees, which served as a warning that their supposed terrific first half when they won 46 games was a mirage.

This year the Mets are not teasing their fans, as they have been playing at the low level that was expected of them before the season began. The Yankees, on the other hand, have been near or at the top of the American League East standings despite the loss to injuries of such household names as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Texeira and Curtis Granderson. Granderson has returned to the team but was replaced on the disabled list by veteran pitcher Andy Pettitte.

The race for mayor of New York City took a long-expected turn last night when Anthony Weiner, the former city councilman and congressman from Forest Hills, entered the contest with an announcement posted on YouTube.

Weiner, who quit the House two years ago after sending lewd photos of himself to young women across the country via social media and then lying to the public about doing so for two weeks, said he had made big mistakes in his life but is looking for a second chance.

Middle Village native Craig Caruana wants the Republican Party to take back the 30th District City Council seat and said he’s the man for the job when he announced his candidacy in front of the Little League clubhouse in Glendale on Monday.

“We are lacking leadership in this district,” Caruana said in front of family, friends and supporters. “What we need is someone who will take responsibility for what happens in Queens.”

Officially the chairman of the Queens Republican Party is Phil Ragusa. But if what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara says is true, that may come as a surprise to the borough party’s Deputy Chairman Vince Tabone, who was one of six people indicted in the scheme centered on state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).

Tributes poured in last Friday for Ed Koch, the three-term mayor who personified New York City from 1978 through 1989, and who died early that morning at age 88.

They came unsolicited from elected officials across the city, and were echoed on the street by the people of Queens.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for allowing me to serve as your Congressman. I was born and raised in Queens and having the chance to represent my friends, neighbors and all the people of Brooklyn and Queens in the 9th Congressional District has been a great honor.

As a lifelong resident of this area, my office’s primary focus has been on serving you. In just a few short months after the special election, we answered a backlog of letters, emails and casework as well as opened the first full-time Brooklyn district office. I am extremely proud of the hard work my staff did for people throughout the district. We were able to help current and future generations of our military by ensuring veterans receive the benefits they are rightfully entitled to and awarded the medals they deserve.

The country did go off the fiscal cliff this week, but it was more like a bungee jump than a fall.

Less than 24 hours after billions of dollars in tax hikes and spending cuts went into effect, the House of Representatives agreed to a deal struck by the White House and Senate leaders and passed by the upper body of Congress on New Year’s Eve, before the year-end deadline that had been termed the “fiscal cliff.”

Take your big-ticket 2012 headlines about superstorms and elections and throw them out the window for a moment. Sure, the year was filled with its fair share of natural and political change. But scratch a little deeper and you’ll find 2012 was the year residents felt divorced from their government, when city agencies were called out for dubious practices.

The year was pockmarked with calls for transparency and fair representation. In short, there was often a gulf between government’s practices and voters’ desires.

Politics dominated much of the news in South Queens in 2012. With local and national elections looming, the communities were the epicenter of a hard-fought state legislative race with statewide implications.

But much like T.S. Eliot’s explanation of the apocalypse in “The Hollow Men,” the campaign ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, shoved from the top of people’s minds by the most devastating natural disaster to strike South Queens in a lifetime.

Queens politics in 2012 brought new districts, a historic election in the 6th Congressional District and enough cloak-and-dagger intrigue to fill a Robert Ludlum novel.

But when Hurricane Sandy struck in October, killing 12 people in Queens and more than 40 in the city, devastating the Rockaways, Howard Beach, lower Manhattan and Staten Island, the people of central Queens, who were largely spared the storm’s wrath, rallied to the cause of those worst hit.

Politics in middle and southwestern Queens was the favorite sport outside of Citi Field in 2012, and the worst storm to hit the region in 74 years devastated some while causing others just a few flickers of their lights.

JANUARY

As the year began, the city filed an appeal of a ruling by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufus that found discrimination on the part of the FDNY against African-American firefighters in the testing and hiring process.

“How’s she doin’?” one might ask.

Pretty well, the answer might be, at least when it comes to endorsements.

Every year on the first Saturday in December, hundreds of people gather in the banquet hall of the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston. Each comes bearing an unwrapped toy or other gift and enjoys a buffet, open bar, dancing and raffles.

But while this year’s event saw a record crowd, according to co-organizer Thomas Flood, there is also a record need.

Dear Editor:

In 2010, Republicans won a historic victory in capturing the House of Representatives.In 2012, all but a handful of them won re-election.In the Nov. 22 issue, Anthony Pilla, citing the larger number of votes Democrats received in House elections, argued that the Republicans won their continued majority due to gerrymandering (“The Democrats won,” Letters). Mr. Pilla failed to point out that Democrats are highly concentrated in urban areas, where they receivedoverwhelming majorities which account for the national totals being what they are.The Republican majority was not due to gerrymandering.

If Mr. Pilla believes that gerrymandering is wrong (as implied by his letter), why did he not complain when his own congressman, Bob Turner, had his district eliminated?The answer is that Mr. Turner is a Republican.It seems that Mr. Pilla has selective moral outrage.

Mr. Pilla called the Republican House majority“a moot point.”A large Republican House majority is not “a moot point” but a reality that Democrats like Mr. Pilla have to live with.

I called on Republicans to use my Nov. 15 tax proposal as a basis for compromise.If Democrats believe that they have a mandate and do not have to compromise on their end, then we will go over the fiscal cliff. If that happens, people like Mr. Pilla will only have to look into the mirror to know the reason why.

Bills introduced last week by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Congressman Joe Crowley (D-Queens, Bronx) would ensure a greater supply of kosher food for needy families under the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program.

The bills would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase the amount of kosher food provided and establish a system to better label, direct and track the food to make sure it gets to people who can only eat kosher diets because of religious beliefs.

The city and a private contractor have set up temporary ferry service between the Rockaways and lower Manhattan while A train service to and from the peninsula is suspended due to hurricane damage.

Service began Monday as the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Seastreak teamed up to run ferries between Beach 108th Street and Beach Channel Drive in the Rockaways and Pier 11 and East 34th Street in Manhattan.

Driving down the ramp toward Shore Front Parkway off the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, it is common to catch the red light at the end of the ramp before the Rockaway Freeway.

But the view from the stop light has changed. Now, the view is uninterrupted straight to the ocean.

Western Queens as a whole weathered Hurricane Sandy without too much damage, residents said.

A few trees and lots of branches came down; Gantry Plaza State Park was flooded, but the water subsided by Tuesday afternoon; LaGuardia Airport also filled to the brim and didn’t open until 7 a.m. on Thursday; but nevertheless most of the lights stayed on and no fatalities were reported in the area.

Hurricane Sandy beat the hell out of Queens, the rest of New York City, the tri-state region and much of the Eastern Seaboard Monday, killing dozens of people and leaving millions without power, cars crushed under trees, homes ablaze and public transit utterly stopped.

Republicans at the borough and state level are declining to comment on a published report in which Congressman Bob Turner (R-Queens, Brooklyn) said he might be interested in becoming the chairman of the Republican Party in Queens.