Pete Alonso opened the Mets’ Thursday night assault in the first by tying Cody Bellinger’s NL rookie home run record . . . and the Mets still found ways to come close to blowing a game in which they scored ten runs early enough.

If they can’t find Crisis Addiction Anonymous anywhere, and a quick Google search won’t show such a group, the Mets need to create one. Post haste.

Their crisis addiction is going to kill them, or at least knock them right back out of the postseason into which they shook, rattled, rolled, clawed, climbed, and sometimes stumbled their way back after the All-Star break.

They need to stand chastened before those who come to the first meeting of CAA and say it loud. And humble.

Hi. We’re the Mets. And we’re crisis junkies.

Forget about winning at the last minute when they win. If Thursday night in Atlanta is evidence, they can’t resist putting up 6-0 leads in the first inning, expanding them to 10-3 after seven innings, then letting the other guys knock on the door of overthrowing them.

Knock on the door? The Mets were practically ready to let the Braves bust the door down and ransack them, before Edwin Diaz struck Ender Inciarte after walking Brian McCann, ending the game at long enough last. With the Mets lucky to bank a 10-8 win.

It says something when a team slaps sixteen hits before five full innings are in the vault, 23 hits on the night, and still gets to within two runs of blowing it in the end.

It says something when two Mets collect five or more hits in a game together for the first time in franchise history and they still get on the threshold of losing.

It says something when Pete Alonso goes five-for-five with six runs batted in including a top-of-the-first splash hit, Amed Rosario goes five-for-six with four runs scored and one driven in in the leadoff spot, Rosario misses the cycle only by one home run, and the Mets still get to within a suture of losing.

It says something when every member of the Mets’ starting lineup including starting pitcher Marcus Stroman gets one base hit at minimum, and a little over half that starting lineup scores a run at minimum, and the Braves could still find ways to get thatclose to plowing through the Mets’ front door at the last minute.

They had enough to prove after losing the first two of this three-game set, making for three straight losses and the sudden, slightly sinking feeling that their white-hot post All-Star break performance looked like nothing more than a pleasant dream. From which they were going to be awakened by the cacophonous alarm clock that too often jolts the crisis addicted home to reality’s terror.

They opened with a few bangs and ended with more than a few whimpers Thursday night. Lucky for them the Mets get to spend the weekend having their way (you hope) with a collection of Royals very different from the ones to whom they fell four World Series ago.

With Jeff McNeil recovering from a hamstring tweak Rosario took the leadoff spot in the order. He wrung Braves starter Julio Teheran—historically a Met nemesis but this season a lot less than that—to an eighth pitch and hammered it off the right field wall, past a slightly misjudging Matt Joyce, for an opening triple. The National League East-leading Braves must have thought that was just an introductory aberration.

But Joe Panik promptly dropped a line single into short center field to send Rosario home. And up stepped Alonso, with a few things to prove, including shaking off a Wednesday night oh-fer at the plate and a rookie fielding mistake—scrambling for a ball that pretty much belonged to the second baseman—that turned a near-certain double play shot into the continuation of a Braves uprising and win.

Now Alonso looked at a fast ball for a strike. Then Teheran threw him a second straight heater right down the middle and just under dead center in the zone. And Alonso drove the meatball into the fountain behind the center field fence. Tying him with Cody Bellinger for the National League’s rookie bomb record at 39.

All the Mets had to do from there was not overthink, the way Callaway had Wednesday night, when he hooked his effective starter Steven Matz despite a 2-1 lead and Matz retiring fourteen consecutive Braves.

All they had to do from that explosive top of the first intro was what Rosario, Panik, and Alonso didn’t do—step up to the plate trying to kill to death Teheran and any Braves bull they might lure from the pen.

And all Stroman had to do was stay on his game of inducing contact for outs while rehorsing the control for which he’s normally noted but which hasn’t been consistent since he was traded to the Mets before this year’s new single mid-year trading deadline.

So much for those ideas. Stroman wasted two immediate outs in the bottom of the first by walking Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson back to back, before Brian McCann caught Panik helpless playing deep, Panik picking the grounder off cleanly in short right center but too far to catch any runner for the side, even if he could hold Freeman from going home on the play. Then Stroman reached for something a little bit extra and struck Ender Inciarte out swinging to strand the ducks on the pond.

Hi, we’re the Mets. And we’re crisis junkies.

Both sides probably anticipated an early enough reach to their beleaguered enough bullpens, after the Mets wrung 32 pitches from Teheran and the Braves, 33 out of Stroman.

Juan Lagares struck out to open the second but Stroman himself beat out an infield hit. And Rosario sent him home a high line triple to left just eluding a diving Ronald Acuna, Jr., who probably should be named an honourary Navy frogman for the diving he did several times Thursday night.

Then Panik (8-for-12 with men on second or beyond as a week-old Met to that point) and Alonso walked back-to-back on eight pitches before Teheran walked Rosario home on a five-pitch walk to Michael Conforto. And Wilson Ramos, who hit into thirteen double plays entering Thursday night, didn’t give Teheran what he surely wanted, only because Teheran couldn’t throw a ball down enough to dial the area code. And on a full-count eighth-pitch-of-sequence Ramos lined Panik home with a base hit to right.

Lucky Mets, they got into the Braves’ pen first, leaving Teheran to the shortest start of his career to date and forcing Braves manager Brian Snitker to reach for his long man Josh Tomlin. And Tomlin got the double play ball from J.D. Davis that Teheran couldn’t get from the slower-legged Ramos. But now the Braves were in a 6-0 hole.

Seven and a half left, you could hear Mets fans muttering. When’s the implosion this time?

Todd Frazier hit Tomlin’s third pitch of the top of the third over the left field fence. Tomlin eluded further trouble by shaking off a followup single and a sacrifice bunt to strike out a slightly anxious Rosario swinging at pitches away and get Panik to loft a foul pop outside the shallow left field line for the side, but the Mets had a 7-0 boot right next to the Braves’ necks before three full innings were banked.

But Stroman walked Acuna to open the bottom of the third and wild pitched him to second while working to Ozzie Albies. Albies grounded sharply to Rosario at short, but Rosario threw a strike over Acuna’s bent-over body that tore through Alonso’s mitt web for first and third, saddling Alonso with an unfair error charge. And, with further faltering control, Stroman walked Freeman to load the pads for Donaldson.

Then Donaldson grounded to short with Frazier over from third to spear it and throw Freeman out at second, but Donaldson just beat the throw on to first while Acuna scored. And then the Mets patched through the Area Code 6-4-3 for the side on McCann’s grounder to short. For these Mets against those Braves, that’s a thin escape even with a six-run advantage.

It was easier to escape the bottom of the fourth after Joyce hit a two-out breaking ball over the right field wall when Stroman got Tomlin to fly out to right. And, to pad the lead back to seven when Alonso cued a two-out, two-run single through the middle infield.

It was just as easy to escape the bottom of the fifth, after Freeman followed Albies’s one-out line single to left by dialing a very sleek Area Code 3-6-1. It was just as simple for Stroman to shake off Donaldson’s leadoff blast in the bottom of the sixth by getting McCann to ground out sharply to Alonso unassisted at first. It was—

Uh, oh. Callaway reached into the bullpen. Stroman wasn’t a perfect model of control all night long but he still had the game in hand and, at 96 pitches, might yet get through the sixth alive. But Callaway reached for Luis Avilan with lefthanded hitting Inciarte due up.

Is it going to happen now? muttered Mets fans under their breaths. To say it aloud might just bring disaster down in advance.

But Inciarte lined one that Davis nearly lost in the lights before picking the ball up on the descent and making the near shoestring catch. Then Johan Camargo lined a single just beyond Rosario ambling out from shortstop, but Joyce skied one the other way to left for which Davis ran like a racehorse before sliding into the catch across the foul line for the side.

And, somehow, a 9-3 Mets lead after six full still didn’t quite seem safe.

Rosario nailed his fourth hit of the night, a leadoff double opening the top of the seventh, with Acuna again making a bold dive but coming up short enough. Panik grounded Rosario to third, and Snitker lifted Tomlin for former Met Anthony Swarzak. And Alonso hit Swarzak’s first pitch to left for his sixth RBI on the night.

Now a 10-3 Met lead didn’t quite seem safe, either.

Callaway brought in Brad Brach for the bottom of the seventh. And Brach struck out pinch hitter Adam Duvall and Acuna before getting Albies to line out to center for a blink-of-an-eye inning. And Brach’s successor Drew Gagnon had to shake off Freeman’s leadoff bomb into the Mets bullpen and a tough two-out infield hit to finish the bottom of the eighth.

Then Luke Jackson, talented enough but too often prone to send Braves fans hollering for the crash carts lately, got through the top of the ninth by turning a pair of singles by Alonso leading off and Ramos (after Michael Conforto struck out) into an inning-ending Area Code 5-6-3.

But what the hey? 10-4, Mets after eight full? Do we dare hope? whispered Met fans desperately.

We hereby invoke Berra’s Law, whispered Braves fans, in and away from Sun Trust, and probably without a single jolted nerve or slurring tongue.

Gagnon looked good enough recovering from Freeman’s mash, and Callaway by now trusted the rest of his bullpen little enough, not to mention not wanting to put Seth Lugo to work a second straight night after Lugo suffered the hard way Wednesday, that he let Gagnon stay in to work the ninth.

OK, how’s it going to happen? Met fans shuddered.

It happened with pinch hitter Rafael Ortega singling to right on 0-2. With late left field insertion Adam Duvall replacing him at first on a force out. With Acuna sending one into the Mets’ bullpen in left. With Freeman following a pop out to third with a shot into the left field seats. With Donaldson following that with a shot over the right center field fence.

And, with Callaway left to little enough choice but to bring in Diaz, who hadn’t pitched since the Nationals tore a pair of runs out of him in last Sunday’s loss. Who promptly did pretty much what the Mets expected him to do all year long. Before a combination of questionable deployments, and perhaps his own somewhat shot confidence, dissipated him to the point that he’d inspired speculation this week that he might either be sent to AAA to reconfigure himself or demoted to the lowest leverage situations possible.

It seemed a shame that Diaz had to bail his team and his skipper out like this now. And after he walked McCann unintentionally on four straight inside services, Diaz followed ball one to Inciarte with two called strikes before getting him swinging on a slider that dove almost the way Acuna did in the outfield.

Almost the way the Mets dove after they dropped a very unlikely seven-run lead onto the Braves’ cooler heads. The Braves looked better losing by a pair than the Mets turned out to look winning at all, by a pair or otherwise.

The Mets still look like baseball’s hottest team since the All-Star break, 22-9, but that’s on paper only now.

“We went through two teams that are very good. We went .500 against them,” said Callaway in glass half full mode. “Now we’ve got to go into Kansas City and continue to play well, and try to win some games there. Go back home, we’ve got some tough opponents.” Say what you will about him otherwise, but Callaway does have a periodic gift for understatement.

Not that the Braves have things all that simple, either. The Dodgers hit Atlanta for a three-game set Friday night. The National League’s two best teams in a likely postseason prelude. But there’s the creepy feeling that you might like the Braves’ survival chances better than you might like the Mets’.

Because only these Mets can leave you feeling like a win in which they score ten runs still resembles a loss. And only they can leave you feeling like a mere two games back in the wild card hunt feels like twenty.

Hi. We’re the Mets. And we’re crisis junkies.

Mickey Callaway lifts Seth Lugo in the seventh Wednesday—after Callaway shouldn’t have lifted Steven Matz to start the inning.

What really cost the Mets in Wednesday night’s disaster in Atlanta? And does it really mean the Mets’ astonishing enough post All-Star break self-resurrection imploding before their and our eyes and ears?

Two cases of overthink. One calamity of a bottom of the seventh. One close-but-no-cigar final stand in the top of the ninth. And a 6-4 loss that lands prominently on the roll of bad, very bad, don’t even think about it Met immolations.

You be the judge.

Was it overthinking Mets manager Mickey Callaway lifting Steven Matz after letting Matz bat for himself in the top of the seventh? Or, was it Rookie of the Year candidate Pete Alonso’s rookie fielding mistake costing the Mets maybe two critical outs in the bottom of the seventh?

Matz was as secure on cruise control as a pitcher can be Wednesday night. Six innings pitched, two hits and one earned run surrendered, and only 79 pitches thrown. Almost as much of a masterpiece as he pitched two days before the new single mid-season trade deadline, when he threw a five-hit shutout at the Pirates.

Then Matz thanked Callaway for letting him swing in the top of the seventh, the game tied at one apiece, with a two-out base hit that set him up to be the eventual tiebreaking run when Amed Rosario singled him to third and took second on the play and J.D. Davis promptly singled him home.

All of a sudden it looked as though the Mets really were going to shake off the bad news that Jeff McNeil, their top-of-the-order ignition switch, would spend ten days on the injured list thanks to the left hamstring he strained hustling out a grounder late Tuesday night.

And Callaway thanked Matz by hooking him in favour of Seth Lugo, lately the Mets’ best relief pitcher, but last seen pitching the final two innings last Saturday and shaking off Juan Soto’s eight-inning home run to win it after the Mets came back late on the Nationals a second straight night to win.

This wasn’t exactly the same thing as Gene Mauch pushing a panic button after a stolen home plate loss and going to a three-man pitching rotation of Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, Chris Short, and whomever else he dared let himself trust otherwise with the 1964 Phillies six games up and a pennant in hand—only to see it blow a ten-game pennant-costing losing streak up in his face.

But after Wednesday night it could portend the end of the Mets’ bootstrap postseason hopes.

Because Lugo, the owner of an 11.6 strikeouts per nine rate this season, didn’t have his best, and surrendered a leadoff walk to Josh Donaldson, two followup singles to load the bases, and Ender Inciarte’s RBI single to left center promptly after that, re-tying the game at two each.

And then it really happened.

Braves catcher Tyler Flowers grounded one between first and second that clearly looked like a second baseman’s play. Mets second baseman Ruben Tejada looked like he was ready to spear it. But Alonso playing first, and in proper positioning except for maybe a two-small-step cheat to his immediate right, scrambled hard to his right trying to get that ball.

And, failing by about an inch when the ball snuck just under and past his downstretched glove.

Even with the two-step cheat right Alonso could have reached his pad with room to spare to take a throw from Tejada. And the throw would have hit him in plenty of time to throw home and nail Adam Duvall coming down the third base line.

But Alonso’s derring-do attempt cost the Mets a tiebreaking run instead of helping the Mets to two critically swift outs. And, the chance to escape without further calamity. And, most significant, an easier time of winning the game than they’d end up having losing it.

Consider: Matt Joyce hit a sinking liner that Mets right fielder Michael Conforto took on a sliding short-hop, with Conforto springing up sharply and throwing to second to get Flowers. If Alonso played proper positioning and nailed that double play, the run represented by Johan Camargo running from third would be vaporised by Flowers as the side-retiring out.

Instead, Camargo’s run scored and Ronald Acuna, Jr. promptly singled Inciarte home, chasing Lugo out of the game in favour of Luis Avilan. Who promptly surrendered Ozzie Albies’s RBI single before getting Freddie Freeman to whack into a step-and-throw double play.

“I thought I made a bunch of good pitches. They didn’t really hit anything hard,” Lugo said after the game. “A little brain fart there not covering first base, I should have known where the defense was, but I thought I made good pitches.”

Lugo was right about the Braves not hitting particularly hard balls against him. But he wasn’t to blame for the first base mishap. He was probably caught as far off guard as anyone else in the park when Alonso scrambled out of position instead of letting Tejada have it and being ready for a throw to first.

Callaway refused to second guess lifting Matz and sending Lugo out for the bottom of the seventh. Apparently, he preferred to let just about everyone else do it for him.

“I’ll make that move 100 times out of 100, that’s the right move in my mind,” the manager said after the game ended. “Lugo is our best reliever, he’s been our best pitcher overall lately, so the reward is he puts up two zeroes, you win the game.” Never mind that Jacob deGrom might make an argument as to whom the Mets’ best pitcher overall has been this year.

“The plan was to go two innings with Lugo and see who was coming up in the ninth,” Callaway said. The Braves love it when a plan doesn’t come together.

What about Matz having been so efficient against Dallas Keuchel, who’d been as stingy with the Mets as Matz was with the Braves, until the Mets got into the Braves’ otherwise skittery bullpen to break the one-all tie with more bullpen treats yet to come? What about Matz having retired fourteen straight Braves before he scored the tiebreaker in the top of the seventh?

All Callaway saw was his pitcher running the bases in the top of the seventh. He didn’t see how his man actually did feel, even after that. “I was feeling good and my command was starting to come together,” Matz said after the game.

If he was feeling good and his command was starting to come together after fourteen straight outs, only one run on his evening’s jacket, and only 79 pitches on his left arm to that point, Callaway—formerly a respected pitching coach who’s supposed to know and measure these things on the spot—was asleep on his feet.

Instead, the Mets now have their first three-game losing streak since the All-Star break. It’s their longest losing streak since the seven-game streak that took them to the last day of June. Until this week their dog days of June began seeming like distant memories.

And Callaway lifting Matz before Alonso scrambled too far out of position for a grounder to second he couldn’t snatch makes formerly distant memories like David Cone giving the Dodgers bulletin board fodder, Kenny Rogers walking home the pennant-losing run, Carlos Beltran frozen solid on a pennant-losing strike three, and Hall of Famer Tom Glavine killed to death in the first at the end of 2007, become only too vivid all over again.

“Don’t think,” Crash Davis admonished Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham. “Because it’ll only hurt the ball club.” Don’t overthink, either. It has the potential of nuking the ball club. Or forcing it to hope for one salvage instead of potentially winning a set against the division leaders.

Now we really get to see what these Mets are really made of. On Thursday night, they’ll do one of two things: 1) They’ll acquit themselves and begin shaking off Wednesday night’s disaster as if it was just a one-night nightmare. 2) They’ll get clobbered or implode.

If the former, there’s plenty of hope yet, especially with the Indians due to meet them back in New York after a weekend in Kansas City that shouldn’t be too arduous against a collection of Royals who’ve won only three of their first twelve August games.

If the latter, hope springs infernal, no matter what happens in Kansas City, because the Indians aren’t the Royals, and the implosion of these Mets may continue drastically. Enough to make that 21-8 second half before Wednesday night seem like a pleasant dream ended by a very rudely exploding alarm clock.