It started off positive for the Mets on Saturday afternoon.

New York clubbed three first inning home runs, Seth Lugo carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and it looked as though they could maybe sneak away with a win against the best team in baseball.

Then it fell apart.

Lugo’s late inning struggles resurfaced, the Mets turned back into pumpkins and the Dodgers showed again why they are a team for the ages.

“Most lineups, there’s a couple of guys in there that you can [look at] and say ‘Well that’s an easy out,” Lugo said. “Every one of [the Dodgers] you got to go out and make pitches. You see what happened when you mistakes.”

Los Angeles knotted the game up in the sixth inning, the beginning of seven unanswered runs they would score before Rene Rivera hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. By then, it was too little, too late.

Paul Sewald and Fernando Salas each allowed a pair of runs in relief of Lugo and Justin Turner came back to haunt the Mets with a home run in the eighth inning to put the final touches on another loss, the team’s sixth in its last seven contests.

“It’s frustrating when you get off to a start like that and lose, but that’s too good of a team,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said. “It’s tough to hold them down. That’s why they got the record they do.”

With the win, Los Angeles improved to a 78-32 record, the best in baseball, while the Mets fell to 10 games below .500 at 48-58.

In a season where the Mets were hoping to perform to at least a sliver of what the Dodgers have, the focus has shifted to individual performances, whether manager Terry Collins says so or not.

Amed Rosario started for the fifth straight game in his short major league career and despite the 0-for-4 day at the dish, is getting acclimated in the bigs before next year.

Michael Conforto continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise wasted season and Dominic Smith will be up sooner rather than later from Triple-A Las Vegas.

The month of August will see potential moves of veterans with expiring contracts such as Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce who recently cleared revocable waivers. Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker who have taken on positions they normally don’t play to be more versatile, won’t be far behind in trade talks.

“All I want is to get back to where we were two years ago. That’s my one and only goal, to win here,” Conforto said.

For Conforto, it will have to wait until the Mets push the reset button and keep their fingers crossed that their pitchers stay healthy next year and that the Mets brass make the correct acquisitions to hang with the likes of the Dodgers.