The large Easter crowd at Citi Field came with great expectation, but the Mets laid an egg in their 7-2 defeat to the Marlins.

They followed up a good Friday (and Saturday) by seeming to take a holiday, and if they continue to play like this they won’t even be in the hunt.

Although it isn’t necessarily a good start, it is early, as they say.

This 2023 season is filled with such promise (a $375 million payroll tends to do that), but through 10 games it bears little resemblance to the superb 2022 regular season.

“We’re still in a very good spot,” Mets star Francisco Lindor insisted. “We won five games, and 85 percent of our team doesn’t feel at its peak yet. Obviously we want to be with a better record. But I know for a fact Max [Scherzer] is not at peak yet … obviously [Carlos] Carrasco … our hitters, including myself, we’re not there yet.”

No, they’re not, and that extends beyond the players.

Their forecasting skills are pretty cloudy, too — not that they are alone there. They were one of three teams to postpone Thursday’s home opener a day in advance, only to see Thursday become picture perfect beautiful before the rescheduled home opener on a frigid Friday.

Anyway, the Mets entered the season with a record payroll but look anything but dominating so far. There are four enormous bright spots so far, but many more concerns (more on those later).

Want to catch a game? The Mets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

First the bright spots.

1. Pete Alonso: The slugger is tied for the major league lead with five home runs. He remains particularly impressive considering the Mets don’t really have a prototypical No. 5 hitter.

“Besides Pete having a couple good games, everyone is trying to find that little rally. We’re not there yet … [not] even Pete. He has at least two or three more levels to him,” Lindor said.

2. David Robertson: Though manager Buck Showalter says he is mixing and matching at closer, so far it appears he has determined Robertson matches up best with everyone as closer. Can’t really blame him there.

3. Kodai Senga: The ghost fork is responsible for 12 of his 14 strikeouts, and he’s looked brilliant two out of two times.

4. The scoreboard in center field: If you laid it flat I suspect it’s about as big as all Queens, big enough even for the elderly with vanity (no eyeglasses) such as myself to see from anywhere.

Now for the not so positive.

The usually consistent Carrasco faltered for a second straight start. Carrasco denied he ran out of gas again, although once again he was ultimately undone in the fifth inning. He agreed that he’s lost his splitter, and that he hung a couple sliders on the two killer Marlins homers, by Bryan De La Cruz and Garrett Cooper.

“He’ll be better,” Showalter said.

Carrasco’s average velocity was once again 91 mph, down two ticks from last year, and the clock may be the bigger culprit than the radar gun. Half the staff seems to be struggling with it, especially from a conditioning standpoint. (While they are in great shape, they have the oldest staff in baseball.)

Mets people have noticed their pitchers actually have been “too quick,” Showalter said (or at least quicker than they need to be). And the Mets are working on timing their visits well (i.e. stalling more).

“We’re trying to work with the clock,” Showalter said. “There was some challenge today with the clock. They weren’t starting it at the right time. That certainly wasn’t our problem though.”

Injuries are also starting to pile up — yet another worry. Starling Marte left the game after the first inning with a strained neck after his head hit third baseman Jean Segura’s knee on a steal of third base.

Heralded catching prospect Francisco Alvarez (ranked No. 1 in baseball some places) is in to play a prominent role now that starter Omar Narvaez is out two months with a calf injury. While Alvarez’s rise was eagerly anticipated, there’s considerable question whether he’s ready.

Alvarez’s first game starting this year was a mixed bag. He went 1-for-4 at the plate, struck out twice and had an RBI, but the Marlins stole five bases on him. The bigger bags and limited throws over make it tougher now, but Showalter said, “I’m not so sure [the steals] weren’t on the pitchers, most of ’em.”

The rookie is expected to get considerable playing time.

“Alvarez is going to catch [a lot]. We will find out quickly if he’s ready for this,” one Mets person said.

While I wouldn’t question the team’s readiness, their execution certainly is a bit off. And while the Mets’ 5-5 record is passable, consider they have played 70 percent of their games against the tiny-revenue Marlins. And also 70 percent of their games have been at home (we are also counting Miami’s loanDepot Park as home games since fans there generally favor the Mets).

Plus, they don’t play the Marlins again until Sept. 18 — another definite downer.