As miserable as the first half of the season was for the Mets, the second half is shaping up to be even worse.
They lost Saturday night for a second straight game since the All-Star break, and fourth straight overall, a putrid 5-1 defeat to the Dodgers that featured another no-show from the lineup, some shaky work out of the bullpen and comically bad fielding.
And the only sounds from the Citi Field crowd were either more boos from the Mets fans or cheers from the many Dodgers fans in attendance.
It’s hard to say what was more emblematic of the Mets’ horrific season, their failure to score while down by a run with runners on the corners and no out in the eighth inning or Brett Baty’s Little League-level error on a Max Muncy pop up in the ninth.
But all that really matters is the loss dropped the Mets (42-50) back to eight games under .500.
At this point, to get to the 87 wins that got the Phillies into the postseason last year, the Mets would have to go 45-25, which seems fairly improbable.
A strong outing by Kodai Senga, who gave up one run in six innings, was wasted after the start of the game was delayed by 46 minutes due to bad weather in the area.
Adam Ottavino was the victim of some misfortune in giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth.
Pete Alonso’s poor throw to second base prevented what could have been an inning-ending double play by David Peralta, which instead turned into a go-ahead forceout.
And the Mets had just one run on two hits before pinch-hitter Tommy Pham walked to lead off the bottom of the eighth and Francisco Alvarez’s single to left-center sent him to third.
But pinch-hitter Mark Canha popped out on the first pitch he saw from lefty Caleb Ferguson and an overmatched Baty struck out before Luis Guillorme — with Starling Marte apparently unavailable off the bench due to illness — did the same.
Not surprisingly, the inability to at least tie the score drew the ire of the Citi Field crowd, as the Mets’ season slipped further into oblivion.
The lineup, facing Tony Gonsolin — who had an 8.14 ERA over his previous four starts — came up nearly empty again after they were one-hit in a shutout loss on Friday.
Alonso snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a single to lead off the bottom of the second.
But Daniel Vogelbach followed by hitting into a double play, drawing the first round of loud boos of the night.
Mookie Betts gave the Dodgers their first lead with a two-out, opposite field solo homer in the third.
Brandon Nimmo, who just missed a leadoff homer Friday — it ended up a double — blasted a leadoff no-doubter to center field in the fourth.
That tied the score at 1-1 and gave the Mets their first run of the second half.
Gonsolin was removed after just 54 pitches, as lefty Alex Vesia entered to face the left-handed part of the Mets’ lineup.
Brooks Raley replaced Senga to start the seventh. He pitched out of trouble not of his own making after DJ Stewart flubbed a Miguel Rojas fly ball near the right-field line for a two-base error.
Following an intentional walk to Betts, Raley got Freeman to pop out.
But the Mets ran into trouble in the eighth, as Ottavino gave up consecutive one-out singles through the right side of the infield to Muncy and J.D. Martinez.
That set up Peralta’s go-ahead grounder.
And after the Mets squandered their chance in the eighth, Los Angeles tacked on three more runs in the ninth, capped by Baty’s ugly play.
