It was game No. 40 for the Mets, approximately the quarter-mile post of a long baseball season in which the team hopes to contend all the way down the stretch.
But reflection might have been the wrong idea Tuesday night, what with the red of the St. Louis Cardinals’ batting helmets making blurry streaks along the basepaths and line drives scattering the Mets’ outfielders every direction on the field like a rack of billiard balls just broken.
It was a sudden deluge of offense for the Cardinals — after they struck out 18 times in a 14-inning loss the night before — and it derailed the Mets’ three-game winning streak.