Along the way, he managed to capture the essence of the New York’s season to date in a single game as the Mets once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The "up" part of the day was about Lindor’s offense. He got the Mets off to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning with a double that drove home A.J. Ewing, the added an exclamation point to that hit with a sixth inning home run that put the Mets up 2-0.

That should have been one of the storylines of the day, but then came the downside of life with Lindor. He often loses focus on ordinary plays, and when he booted a sure double-play ball in the bottom of ninth the error sent the Mets spiraling toward a brutal loss.

“It’s unacceptable,” Lindor said in a piece written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “I’m not playing to the standards that I have. I’m not playing to the organization’s standards. I’ve just got to get better.”

Lindor has said this before, but it’s just words at this point. The shortstop’s gaffe also ruined a fine start from rookie Zach Thornton, who took another step toward proving that he belongs after some intermittent struggles in his initial starts with seven shutout innings.

“We’ve been needing that from someone,” interim manager Andy Green said. “You can see he’s unafraid, and you can see he’s on the attack. So as painful as this moment is, those are good signs for our future to see a young guy step on the mound and pitch like that.”

The Mets will probably give Thornton more run in the second half of the season, as they currently have nothing to play for in the standings. But the Mets are relevant, as the some of the players who were supposed to lead them back to contention will be heading elsewhere at the trade deadline.

The deadline showpiece for the Mets will be Freddy Peralta, who’s been a disappointment and then some. Peralta was supposed to lead the rotation, but instead he’s barely been worthy of a rotation spot as his ERA has put him in the ranks of the worst pitchers in baseball.

It’s been an ugly first half, and Green uttered the same kinds of words his fired predecessor, Carlos Mendoza, might have offered if he was still around.

“This was a tough first half in many respects,” Green said. “We have to take a level of ownership over ourselves, and every single person on that team has a level of responsibility to flip the script going into the second half.”