Not a Great Homestand

Appearing on “The Phil Naessens Show” a week ago, I fearlessly predicted a 5-1 homestand for the Mets — a sweep of the Marlins and two out of three from the Braves. Man, was I wrong.

They lost two games to each team — two of them blowouts, including Johan Santana’s much anticipated return from the disabled list.

Sunday’s near-meltdown by the bullpen would have put a final dagger in the Mets season. I don’t think they would have been able to come back from such a devastating, embarrassing loss.

Even though they pulled out the game, I think the homestand failures prove that the Mets don’t have another run in them. There are just too many offensive deficiencies, no end in sight for the continued bullpen problems and shaky starting pitching, despite positive performances from R.A. Dickey, Jonathon Niese and Matt Harvey, for the Mets to mount a serious run at the post season.

At five games under .500, the Mets are 16 games out of first place in the NL East and 9.5 games behind in the Wild Card chase. Despite multiple collapses by teams last season, the Mets are just not good enough to make up that much distance.

I hope I am wrong, but I don’t think so.