On Friday night, the Atlanta Braves dealt the New York Mets another body blow in a season that’s been fraught with many of them. The question I find myself pondering this morning is elementary: How many more ugly losses can this team endure before they get to the point of no return?

At 25-33, the Mets now find themselves eight games under .500 and 12 games behind the division-leading Washington Nationals.  Worse yet, both the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves have now pulled ahead of the Mets who now sit in fourth place. Simply put, the Mets have dug themselves into an untenable situation if they still have and postseason aspirations left in them.

It would appear that with the arrivals of Steven Matz, Seth Lugo and most of all Yoenis Cespedes, that the Mets may get that shot in the arm they need to lift themselves up from the doldrums and squalor of the last eight weeks.

But I wonder if their additions will do anything to help alleviate the absolutely appalling -21 defensive runs saved they’ve accumulated so far this season. At second base Neil Walker has -5 DRS, then you have Jose Reyes with -7 DRS playing mostly third base, and worst of all is Asdrubal Cabrera with -8 defensive runs saved.

Those numbers do nothing to stir up any confidence for our starting rotation whenever they induce a ground ball that should be an easy out. How do you build a team around pitching and then not have that strong defensive unit to complement them? It’s one of several problems that the Mets must fix if they are serious about making a realistic second half push.

They may have a solution in Amed Rosario – who would be an immediate upgrade at the vital shortstop position defensively. However, Sandy Alderson doesn’t believe the young shortstop phenom is ready yet offensively, as you may have heard during last night’s broadcast.

Another glaring issue is the continuing decline of Terry Collins as an in-game strategist. He just continues to push all the wrong buttons and his gut reaction style of managing has led to far too many losses. Throw in his utter incompetence in managing the bullpen and it’s a formula that has been very toxic for this team.

Something you won’t see in the box score is that killer instinct – that hunger to win that has often been lacking this season. We saw that in Dansby Swanson last night. But alas, we didn’t see it in Curtis Granderson. And neither did we see Granderson or Terry Collins taking accountability for the lackluster effort that was on full display in a loss that left a sour taste in all our mouths.

There’s a part of me that is ingrained to never stop believing in this team. But this year’s model has really strained the limits of my ability to remain optimistic. I’m hoping that a doubleheader sweep tonight will get both me and the team back on track.