Mets' Francisco Alvarez, who is struggling, a convenient target for a club doing same

Getting shut out twice in three NLCS games tends to raise a few red flags, which is why the Mets — and specifically manager Carlos Mendoza — were forced into crisis mode after Wednesday night’s 8-0 loss at Citi Field.

October is no time for patience. Loyalty can be tested in a short series, particularly when elimination looms and things get desperate.

Or you play for the Mets, a franchise that doesn’t reach the brink of a World Series very often.

So it was no surprise that Francisco Alvarez found himself under the magnifying glass during the 24 hours leading up to Thursday’s pivotal Game 4, from Mendoza’s interrogation to the young catcher himself sitting behind the lectern that afternoon.

Bottom line, Alvarez didn’t just look terrible in Wednesday’s loss — he appeared broken. Alvarez whiffed three times (all looking) and also made a throwing error that set up the Dodgers’ two unearned runs in the second inning.

Overall, his body of work this October also has been brutal, as Alvarez was hitting .143 (5-for-35) with zero extra-base hits and 13 strikeouts. Naturally, benching him became a topic of conversation, but one that Mendoza aggressively pushed back on.

“This is a guy that an change the outcome of a game with one swing,” Mendoza said. “He just has to relax here a little bit. But we know the potential there offensively. The other thing with Alvy, he’s 22 years old. He’s got a lot on his plate, especially when it comes down to preparing and game-planning.”

All true. And here’s something else that Mendoza won’t say: Alvarez has plenty of company. He’s not the only one to blame for the Mets’ futility against a suddenly impenetrable L.A. pitching staff. Just the most convenient culprit, after a sub-par regular season and his playoff struggles.

Other than Francisco Lindor going deep to lead off Game 2, and Mark Vientos following with a grand slam, the Mets have done virtually nothing in this NLCS, batting .189 (18-for-95) with four extra-base hits. That’s slightly worse than what they’ve done with runners in scoring position, a robust .211 (4-for-19).

Alvarez hasn’t helped, that’s for sure. The bat flying out of his hands Wednesday night on a flailing swing was emblematic of where his head’s been this month, with little hint of snapping out of it. And since his major-league career spans a whopping total of 228 games, Alvarez doesn’t have the experience his teammates do to lean on.

Know what might ease some of that pressure? The other eight guys doing some damage. Mendoza shuffled some of Thursday’s lineup to account for the significant reverse splits of Dodgers starter (and last winter’s Mets target) Yoshinobu Yamamoto by sticking with J.D. Martinez at DH, inserting Harrison Bader over Tyrone Taylor in centerfield and moving Pete Alonso up to third, stacking him and Mark Vientos, the two slugging righty bats.

It’s not what anyone would describe as a radical makeover, and the only reason the misfiring Martinez was back had to do with Yamamoto’s much better success against lefties (.193 BA, .526 OPS as compared to .263 and .744 from the other side). The little-used Martinez was 4-for-16 (all singles) with six strikeouts heading into Thursday’s Game 4, but Mendoza was banking on the lightning-in-a-bottle strategy.

Same goes for Bader, who’s barely played in these playoffs, other than as a late-inning defensive replacement. When Mendoza was asked about that decision, the manager didn’t get very deep with his explanation, tying it to Bader’s three at-bats against Yamamoto on April 19 at Dodger Stadium. There are small sample sizes, and then there are microscopic bites, and the Bader-Yamamoto matchup falls into the latter category (though he did go 3-for-3 with a double that day).

Also, you never know with Bader. Two years ago, for the Yankees, Bader seemed to channel Reggie Jackson in smacking five homers in 30 at-bats, split between the first two playoff rounds. These Mets will take whatever they can get, and maybe this is the moment a dice roll on Bader pays off.

As for the other options, Mendoza has been reluctant to swap out Iglesias for Jeff McNeil — don’t dismiss the OMG vibe here — and we don’t buy backup Luis Torrens as a viable replacement for Alvarez’s high-impact potential. Torrens’ claim to fame has been his talent for gunning down would-be base-stealers, but he’s had zero at-bats this postseason and his last hit came on Labor Day before going 0-for-16 since that Sept. 2 win over the Red Sox.

Factor in Alvarez’s chemistry with Game 4 starter Jose Quintana (2.87 ERA, .207 opponent’s batting average) and Mendoza’s choice doesn’t feel quite as controversial. He’s had a hot hand so far this season, so it wouldn’t be the first time the manager’s faith gets rewarded, if it breaks that way for the Mets.

“If he didn’t want me to play today, I kind of understand that because I didn't do good yesterday and the past three or four days,” Alvarez said before Game 4. “But he gives me the confidence. And today is another day. I can have a different result and can flip everything today.”

The Mets, as a whole, should be thinking the same.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.