It sure seems like there is no end in sight for this current downward spiral.

Furthermore, the season is now in very real danger of slipping away. The Mets are currently 5.5 games behind the Phillies for the NL East lead, and just 1.5 games ahead of the Reds for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

And, on that note, let’s recap all the bad (we’re going to struggle for positives this week) in another edition of 3 Up, 3 Down…

3 UP

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

We witnessed some pretty significant history on Saturday. During another loss, Pete Alonso  launched his 26th home run of the season. It was also the 252nd homer of his career. As a result, the slugger has now matched Darryl Strawberry ‘s record for the most home runs in franchise history. Alonso now needs just one more long ball to become the Mets’ new standalone home run king. That’s a pretty special milestone. Furthermore, Alonso enjoyed a strong finish to the Milwaukee series. He also hit two doubles with one run scored and one RBI in the finale on Sunday.

SHOWING LIFE

Cedric Mullins  has gotten off to a slow start in a Mets uniform. Entering Friday, he was just 1-for-17 (.058). However, the veteran did show some signs of improvement in Milwaukee. He put together a two-hit game on Saturday with one RBI and one walk. Then, on Sunday, Mullins launched his first home run as a Met. Hopefully, a strong finish to the weekend can translate to a strong finish to the season for Mullins. After all, this team needs all the offense it can get.

TIME FOR A BREATHER

The Mets are off on Monday. That may well be good news for everyone involved. After all, this has just been a brutal stretch, and the weekend in particular was tough to watch. Having absorbed gut punch after gut punch over the last several days, Monday’s off day could be the breather this team needs. The coaches need to decipher what buttons to press to end this slide. And the players need to hit the reset button and prepare to fight. Otherwise, this season could completely get away from the Mets over the next couple of weeks. This entire organization needs to wipe the slate clean and treat Monday as a fresh start.

3 DOWN

GUT PUNCH TIME

Man, the entire weekend in Milwaukee was crushing. It all started on Friday. The Mets raced out to an early lead before losing the game in extras, after Starling Marte  was thrown out at home in the ninth. Saturday’s game, aside from Alonso’s history-making home run, was an ugly mess. But Sunday represented rock bottom. The Mets blew a five-run lead with Sean Manaea  enduring another tough outing, while the new-look bullpen was unable to protect the lead. Milwaukee tied the game in the eighth inning, before Isaac Collins  launched a walk-off home run off Edwin Díaz  to complete the misery. The gut punch of a loss was New York’s seventh straight, matching the team’s longest losing streak of the season. This weekend officially marked the lowest ebb of the season for the Mets. So far, anyway.

NEED TO BE BETTER

Francisco Lindor  is going through it right now. So is Brandon Nimmo . Both players are enduring tremendous struggles at the plate. Lindor went 0-for-12 with six strikeouts against the Brewers. He’s now without a hit in his last five games. As for Nimmo, the left fielder entered Sunday with 14 strikeouts in his last 25 at-bats. He didn’t strike out on Sunday, and he did draw two walks, but he also failed to record a hit for the sixth consecutive game. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that both Lindor and Nimmo are struggling to put together competitive at-bats over this stretch. That’s incredibly worrying this late into the season.

SAME OLD PROBLEMS

The Mets were hurt by the same old fatal flaws over the weekend. Starters, outside of David Peterson , seem incapable of going deep into games. The new-look bullpen is becoming ineffective again due to a high workload and relievers pitching in spots they shouldn’t be. Too many players are committing way too many brain-farts out in the field. The at-bats across the board are non-competitive. The runners in scoring position problem refuses to go away. The so-called Big Four at the top of the lineup is maddeningly inconsistent. And manager Carlos Mendoza  has shown a tendency to make the wrong decision in the biggest moments. Just look at Friday. He kept Starling Marte in the game in the ninth, instead of getting Tyrone Taylor  to pinch-run. We don’t know for sure, but there is a strong possibility that Taylor doesn’t get thrown out at home and the tying run scores.

This does not look like a playoff team right now, let alone a World Series contender. And, with a tough homestand now on deck, things could be about to get even worse for the Mets. Unless this team can fix its laundry list of issues and problems, it could be a very long winter in Queens.