The low-water mark came on May 29, in the form of an ugly sweep at the hands of the Dodgers.
The Mets were 11 games under .500 and held a team meeting afterward.
During that meeting, J.D. Martinez recalled, the message was to stop worrying about every little thing that was going wrong.
“Let’s start having fun again and start enjoying this,” the veteran designated hitter recalled. “We lose, we lose.”
They’ve been losing less since that day.
After Friday night’s 2-1 victory over the Padres in front of 22,850 at Citi Field, the Mets have won nine of their last 13 games.
With a split of the final two games of the series, they will have gone five consecutive series’ without a loss.
They have now won three straight games in Queens for just the second time this year.
They have hardly been dominant.
Thursday, the Mets were two outs from dropping a series to the lowly Marlins before Martinez’s walk-off two-run homer.
And Friday, Martinez’s third-inning, two-run double was all the offense they could muster. They managed just one hit the rest of the way, befuddled by Padres knuckleballer Matt Waldron.
It didn’t matter.
Sean Manaea and four relievers held down Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and the Padres, as the Mets crept to within six games of .500 at 31-37.
Edwin Diaz worked the ninth for his sixth save, and his first since coming off the injured list on Thursday.
Jeff McNeil’s sliding play preserved the lead and Diaz fanned Jake Cronenworth to end it.
San Diego came in hot, having won five of its last six games that included a sweep of the A’s, but the NL West team managed just four hits against the Mets.
So far on this homestand, the Amazin’s have allowed just 11 runs across four games.
The Mets broke through in the third with two outs.
Brandon Nimmo, in the midst of a 3-for-22 stretch, singled through the hole into right field and Martinez laced a two-run double down the right-field line.
The Padres got one back in the fifth on Jackson Merrill’s sixth home run of the year.
It was the lone blemish over the first five frames against Manaea, who fanned seven in that span and allowed just two other singles.
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His defense came up big in the third, Pete Alonso and Nimmo robbing the Padres of hits.
Manaea only lasted one hitter into the sixth.
After Luis Arraez’s single leading off the frame, manager Carlos Mendoza went to his bullpen.
First up was Adam Ottavino, who retired all four batters he faced in by far his best outing in quite a while.
Ottavino, who had given up runs in four of his previous six appearances, was used earlier than usual and performed.
The Mets did catch a break starting the seventh.
Mark Vientos botched Manny Machado’s grounder, but Machado jogged down the line and was still thrown out by two steps.
Jake Diekman escaped his own mess in the seventh by getting Merrill to fly out with two on and two out, and Sean Reid-Foley worked a perfect eighth.
Diaz closed it out in impressive fashion, and the Mets recent momentum continued to build.