Halfway through this season, there was a positive record that elated the faithful and did much to downplay that the 2012 Mets do not hit with power, do not have much speed, cannot hit lefty pitching, do not field particularly well and have just about the worst bullpen in the majors.

Then the first month of the second half came along as a cruel slap of reality that made the hope go away, more than negated the positive first half and returned the Mets to where they really always have been: discovery mode. Trying to figure out who from this group finally can make the Mets sustained 162-game contenders and not just first-half posers.

When asked this question, Terry Collins heartily stated, “You have to start with the shortstop.”

The problem is Ruben Tejada also is where Collins ended…disturbingly it was not exactly a rousing endorsement for a better tomorrow. “There are multiple things that have kept us from playing very good,” Collins conceded.

In other words, this isn’t a simple plug job. Not when you are three outfielders away from having a legitimate major league outfield. Not when you don’t have a starting catcher in a sport already short on catching. Not when significant parts of the Mets’ own hierarchy remain unsold that Ike Davis or Daniel Murphy can be part of a first-division right side of the infield. Not when Jonathon Niese is showing second-half endurance issues once more and Dillon Gee has become a physical uncertainty. Not when Jason Bay and Johan Santana are choking the payroll for one more season.

And not when even your two best players in 2012 — David Wright and R.A. Dickey — are facing their walk years in 2013. Thus, the Mets have to commit significant dollars for a substantial period on both or seriously consider trading them between now and next July 31.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post nails it.

If your own manager fails to see a better tomorrow how can the fans?

What we are seeing is the trickle down effect of what happens when a GM fails to fill just one need after a successful first half, and throws his own team under the bus referring to them as “poor performers” in justifying his inaction at the deadline.

We live in a world where multi-tasking is the norm and a mandatory way of surviving in this technological marvel we’ve created. But we have a GM who lives in the past and is locked into the notion that until he finds an ideal player who would fill all our needs, there is no use in patching up all the other areas that need fixing. He is waiting for a miracle cure or a magic pill that doesn’t exist, and that really scares me.

He says he is building from within, and yet not only does he fail to sign the extra second round pick we got as compensation for losing Jose Reyes, but he also failed to sign half of the players we selected in the draft. We were the worst in the majors in that regard. Rebuilding from within? Rebuilding what?

So what are we doing? Where is this better tomorrow? When will it get here? They’ve been saying it will arrive in 2014, but do any of you really buy into that? I’m wondering if we’ll even have a real everyday outfielder or catcher by 2014, and they’re blowing fairy dust up my nose saying that is when our run of championship caliber baseball begins?

Just when I thought I was becoming an optimist, they pull me back in….