3 Mets players who need to permanently get their act together before it's too late

There's a scene in Kill Bill where Uma Thurman's character is asked, "You didn't really think it was gonna be that easy, did you?" to which she replies, "You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did."
I can't help but think of this movie, and this scene in particular, when I think about the New York Mets season. Both the Mets and Thurman's "the Bride" are on death's door early on — the Mets due to their own slow start to the season, and the Bride due to a brutal assassination attempt by her former co-workers. Midway through, the script flipped, with the Mets putting together the best month in baseball and the Bride well on her way towards getting revenge.

It's never that easy, though — not in a Quentin Tarantino movie, and certainly not for the Mets. Deep down, Mets fans know this, even if we forget sometimes, such as when the team briefly held the top Wild Card spot in the National League about three weeks ago.

The wheels have come off since then, and though the Bride had to fend off the Crazy 88's in order to reach her ultimate goal in the scene I described above, the Mets have only had to overcome the likes of the Angels, Rockies, and A's to retain their place in what has become a crowded N.L. playoff race. The Mets being the Mets, though, that's proven to be a difficult task, as they managed just a 4-5 record against those three lowly teams, with a three-game, butt-whooping sweep at the hands of the Mariners thrown in for good measure.

Other teams in the National League have seized the opportunity to surge past the Mets, most notably the Padres and the defending N.L. champion Diamondbacks, each of whom has been scorching hot in recent weeks. The Mets have even fallen two games behind the listless Braves, who are still in the race despite losing the defending N.L. MVP and the N.L. Cy Young favorite months ago.

We know it's not going to be easy for the Mets to get back to the playoffs this year, because things never come easy for the Mets. If a postseason appearance has any chance at all of happening, though, these are three players that need to get their butts in gear for the stretch run.

1) Francisco Alvarez

It pains me to say this, but Francisco Alvarez hasn't done much to help the Mets in well over a month.

The Mets as a team have suffered a significant power outage in recent weeks after crushing the ball in July and late June. Such a decline was inevitable, as they were never going to be able to sustain a 5+ runs per game pace. Certain players that outperformed expectations, like Jose Iglesias, have come back to earth, but the Mets need their stars to step up if they're to get this thing across the finish line.

That means that Alvarez, who even at 22 is already a core part of this team, needs to rediscover the swing that put him in league with the likes of Johnny Bench in the record books last year. Alvarez has just one homer in his last 32 games while being outplayed by backup Luis Torrens, who is on his third team this year.

Alvarez's OPS since the start of July is barely over .560, an abysmal number that's relegated him to eighth or ninth in the batting order most days. Worse yet, he's scored only seven runs in that time frame, even with the consistently excellent Francisco Lindor hitting a spot or two after him.

Pete Alonso has shown signs of waking up recently with a four-hit game against the A's and a two-homer game against the Rockies. Mark Vientos has continued raking, and even Jeff McNeil has come alive, but this lineup can only reach its full potential when Alvarez is acting like the best young slugging catcher in baseball. He needs to find his swing before it's too late.

2) Luis Severino

David Stearns' offseason flier on Luis Severino has been one of the best moves that the Mets' new president of baseball operations has made.

Severino has given the Mets a chance to win every fifth day while leading the team in innings pitched, which is more than you could ask of a guy that looked lost while posting a 6.65 ERA with the Yankees last year. He's helped the Mets survive the loss of Kodai Senga for basically the entire season.

He's also not looked great lately, giving up four runs or more in his last three starts (all Mets losses) after giving up four total in the three before that (all Mets wins). This has pushed his ERA up over 4.00, but the Mets rotation needs Severino to rediscover the form that he displayed earlier in the season.

Severino has left the ball up in the zone too much lately. Through the end of June, he had allowed five more ground balls than fly balls, but since then, those numbers have flipped in a big way, with 21 more fly balls than grounders. This has resulted in the ball leaving the yard at a higher rate, with five home runs allowed in his last three starts, the same number he gave up in his first 10 starts of the season.

Some of the Mets' starters, like Sean Manaea and David Peterson, have been outstanding lately. The Mets need Severino to rejoin them.