The crack of the bat left no doubt. Everyone knows that Pete Alonso can carry the Mets if and when he breaks out of his recent funk and bears his Polar Bear fangs again.
Alonso (five RBIs) had one RBI and zero HRs across his previous eight games and was 2-for-23 with one extra-base hit — until his three-run blast to left in the first inning off Dylan Cease ignited the Mets’ 11-6 Father’s Day victory that gave them a three-game sweep of the Padres.
The surging Mets, left for dead much too early, survived an eighth-inning bullpen implosion and now have a five-game winning streak and are lurking 1 ¹/₂ games out of a wild-card spot after nine wins in 11 games.
“We’re gonna be right there at the end,” Carlos Mendoza had said before the game. “There’s a good feeling right now in that clubhouse.”
A better one afterwards.
“I thought we always were in the postseason race,” Francisco Lindor said. “Some people had us out, but my mind, I felt like we got the team, we have the personnel. I still haven’t looked at the standings, I still haven’t looked at our record, but we just got to keep on climbing the mountain.”
For the Mets to turn this into a long, hot summer of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, Mendoza will require four stars — The Post’s Soar Four — to help Lindor (19th career leadoff HR) and Brandon Nimmo (three hits and an RBI) and Starling Marte (diving catch in right field) and rampaging J.D. Martinez (opposite-field double) lift his Boys of Simmer to Boys of Summer contenders:
The monster deal that once appeared inevitable will be revisited. His Mets future could end at the trade deadline should Steve Cohen and GM David Stearns resign themselves to be sellers.
Alonso had been stuck on 14 homers since June 4.
“I don’t want him to press or anything, he’s gotta be himself,” Adam Ottavino told The Post, “but we know at some point it’s coming.”
When it came, it turned a 1-1 game into a 4-1 game. Alonso’s eighth-inning single drove in a pair of runs and turned a 9-6 lead into an 11-6 lead.
“I felt pretty good. I’m just happy I was able to capitalize on some pitches in the zone. Yeah, I was happy I was able to come though for the boys there,” Alonso said.
He’ll throw another bullpen session this week and Mendoza has his fingers crossed that his ace will be able to return from a posterior right capsule strain and subsequent triceps injury following the All-Star break.
“His stuff is super elite, and he’s been a pro at this for a long time, and he knows how to put the team in a position to win almost every time he’s out there whether he has great stuff or not that day,” Ottavino said. “He’s just a pro with a super weapon [ghost fork] with two strikes.”
Returned on Tuesday from a torn ligament in his left thumb.
“He’s just got a special soul, special personality,” Ottavino said. “He’s very energetic and a big competitor and smart well beyond his years. He adjusts really fast, he’s really good at getting himself better, and obviously he has a huge impact on all the pitchers too. There’s a big comfort throwing to him, and you just know how engaged he is and how much he cares and how much he wants to get every out, every strike, and that’s to say nothing of his hitting, which is potentially really dangerous, so we’re lucky to have him.”
Alvarez got most of Sunday off, only entering to catch in the ninth.
“He’s always prepared, ready to go, and he brings the energy whether he’s playing or he’s not playing,” JD Stewart told The Post. “He’s very confident in what he does, and we’re all confident in what he does. You see that with the pitchers as well. They trust him.”
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The trumpet blares again. The closer is back.
“We don’t have to play matchups as much all the way into the ninth inning,” Ottavino said. “Things just line up better knowing that he’s out there.”
Hold the obituary. Here come the Mets.