Lineup’s in hibernation minus Pete
IT WAS set up perfectly for Buck Showalter and the Mets: Kodai Senga, their unsung ace on the mound.
The Bad News Cardinals in the other dugout.
Alas, following Cardinals 5, Mets 3, another Citi Field crowd left exasperated, angry, frustrated … pick one. Hurry back, Polar Bear. You know what Casey “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” Stengel would have said? Can’t Anybody Here Win Three Straight Games?
The defeat was another painful reminder that the Mets without Pete Alonso, out with a bone bruise and sprain in his left wrist, are not unlike the Yankees without Aaron Judge: A lineup and a team that scares no one.
There is still plenty of season left. But you know what Yogi Berra might have said? It gets late early out here.
Hurry back, Polar Bear. Daniel Vogelbach can’t do this alone. “Our lineup is definitely more potent with Pete in it than without him, that’s kind of a no-brainer,” Mark Canha said. “I still think we have guys that can hurt you in our lineup, but Pete is one of the most prolific power hitters in the game.”
Senga wasn’t his best version of himself. He struggled with his command and control in the first inning (with a hit-bypitch and the first of two wild pitches) and escaped a basesloaded threat. But a two-run home run by Paul Goldschmidt in the three-run second inning and a solo homer by Jordan Walker in the third, both off 95 mph fourseam fastballs, put the Mets in a 4-1 hole.
“Missed locations to good hitters,” Senga said through his interpreter.
Walker’s homer was the last hit Senga allowed before he left with two outs in the seventh after 99 pitches.
“I was able to make adjustments on the fly,” Senga said.
The wind had an effect on his ghost forkball and cutter, but he has enough in his arsenal to overcome, and bottom line, he gave the Mets a chance to win.
“He’s a mentally tough guy. Whatever happens good or bad he keeps pitching,” Showalter said.
A leadoff home run by Brandon Nimmo against Adam Wainwright and a two-run Luis Guillorme homer in the fifth notwithstanding, this is mostly how it went for the Mets:
With two on base in the second inning, Canha grounded into a double play. With Mets on first and third in the seventh against reliever Andre Pallante, Jeff McNeil grounded to short.
Canha, playing first base until Polar Pete returns, failed to make a difficult over-the-shoulder catch on a Dylan Carlson foul pop, and Carlson’s RBI single in the ninth gave the Cards an insurance run.
“We ran out of innings,” Francisco Lindor said. “Most of the games we’ve been in it. It’s not like we’re just getting beaten up every single night. We have given ourselves a chance to win the ballgames. We just gotta make sure in the ninth [David] Robertson comes and close the game.”
Give Lindor credit: His wife delivered their second daughter, Amapola, in the morning and he cared enough to show up low on sleep to pinch-hit in the ninth.
Justin Verlander looked like
Justin Verlander in his last outing against the Yankees, and now Showalter and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner need Max Scherzer to start looking more like Max Scherzer. Or more like Senga, for that matter.
But first, Scherzer needs to find Scherzer.
“There’s nothing wrong with Max,” Hefner told The Post before the game. “We made an adjustment with kind of his takeaway on his changeup, and that kinda leaked over into his slider. And he just wasn’t able to make that adjustment on the fly during the game, but he threw his bullpen yesterday and everything was very normal.
“I don’t anticipate a bad start out of Max.”
Steve Cohen needs more bang for his bucks from his three-time Cy Young winners, especially now. Hurry back, Polar Bear. Fireballer Jordan Hicks struck out the side in the ninth to strand Lindor at seond after he hit him with a pitch leading off.
“Trying to hit 103 in the twilight, it’s tough,” Showalter said.
Trying to hit 80 in broad daylight has been, too.
Polar Bare.