Flores simply as good as it threats

IT’S PRETTY simple when it comes to Wilmer Flores, really. If you simply allow him to be, if you give him a safe roster spot and a fairly regular place in the lineup, then he’ll be a nice player, a fine player, a player who won’t hurt you too often but won’t really help all that much, either.

If you threaten him, however, he’s George Brett.

Put his job in jeopardy, he turns into Mike Schmidt.

“We’ve had,” Terry Collins said, smiling, “the same observation.”

It ’s a curious phenomenon, not unlike Adam West’s Batman always figuring a way to slither away from the giant cliffhanger at the end of an episode, not unlike Tom Coughlin’s unique talent to deliver Super Bowl championships whenever calls for his head, his hide and his job were at their loudest.

Three days after becoming only the second Met to collect six hits in a single game, Flores hammered two home runs, matching Giancarlo Stanton’s total (if not his accumulated distance) and pacing the Mets to a 4-2 win over the Marlins, giving them their sixth win in seven games on this homestand and a fair nudge of momentum heading into a key four-game series with the Nationals starting Thursday.

Flores, as you might expect, wasn’t as eager as Collins to embrace the notion that he’s only at his most dangerous when walking a gangplank, despite his recent surge with Jose Reyes’ looming presence threatening to slash his playing time. And despite his signature moment as a Met, 48 weeks ago, when he jumpstarted the Mets’ stretch run with a walkoff homer against the Nats on what by rights was supposed to be his first day in the employ of the Brewers.

“I never think of it like that,” Flores insisted. “I just go out and play.”

Even when it seemed you were about to become a spare part?

“Having Jose here makes us a better team ,’’ Flores said.

Actually, having Reyes play as he did Wednesday (he had two doubles and played flawless defense at shortstop as a lastsecond fill-in for the scratched Asdrubal Cabrera) as well as Flores playing as he has since inheriting third base from Wright (he was initially in the lineup at first until Cabrera called in sick) makes the Mets a better team, and it makes Collins’ daily lineup choices far more intriguing.

“I don’t know,” was Collins’ honest appraisal about how he would try to find a place for those two bats in the lineup. Funny, too: A week ago, Collins would have offered his kingdom and Yoesnis Cespedes’ horses for a bat — any bat — that he could rely on. Six wins in seven days later, he has — what’s t he old expression — a “good problem” on his hands.

“When we got Jose, Wilmer really started to hit,” Collins said. “These guys are very proud, they don’t go down without a fight. He said to himself, ‘Look, if I don’t get it going, I’ll lose some playing time.’ ”

The thing is, he’ll probably still lose some playing time. Cabrera isn’t being dislodged after a mostly productive first half. Reyes isn’t here to be an observer. James Loney has quickly become an essential part of the Mets’ lineup, a professional hitter against lefties as well as righties. Neil Walker is going to play most every day.

That means Flores’ best-case scenario right now is his old-case scenario: playing three or four times a week at various locations while Collins snatches days off for his veterans. That wasn’t such a great option for Flores earlier in the season, and most everyone believed it was the instability of not knowing where he was playing that caused him so much angst that he shut down at the plate.

Thing is, maybe it was too much stability.

Maybe what Flores really needs is perpetual flux. Maybe he really needs to be trapped in a giant hourglass with the Caped Crusader, sand threatening to bury him. Maybe he needs to rely more on his inner Coughlin. Maybe he needs to be told every day that he’s been placed on the waiver wire, then told after every game: Just kidding!

“Def initely, the playing time makes a difference,” he said. “It’s harder when you’re out. When you play you can make adjustments.”

Or … there’s more playing time. They say it’s a good problem, having too many batters for a batting order. Let’s see in the coming days if Terry Collins agrees.