MINNEAPOLIS — Jinx? Did someone say jinx?
Well … there weren’t a lot of people using that word inside the Mets’ clubhouse the past few days. But it has certainly been a subject of conversation in those places where Mets fans gather to ruminate and restlessly wait for the sky to fall and the other shoe to drop.
So when Pete Alonso went homerless through his first four games after winning the Home Run Derby, there was some nervous chatter starting to gain steam. When he was 1-for-17 with eight strikeouts for his first 18 at-bats, post-Derby — including two strikeouts in his first three hitless at-bats Wednesday — you saw an awful lot the dog cartoon that proliferates on social media in times of trouble, the pooch surrounded by flames and insisting, “This is fine.