Searching for Amazin’ magic

SO much for the magic being back. Now the question is do the Mets have the same type of magic as last year when they found themselves in a similar situation? Jeurys Familia finally ran out of luck Wednesday night in a crushing 5-4 loss to the Cardinals at Citi Field, ruining a tremendous comeback by the Mets. A comeback fueled by a booming, two-out, tworun home run by Yoenis Cespedes off Cardinals’ ace Adam Wainwright in the Mets’ threerun seventh inning. You could see this one coming for months because Familia has been walking the razor’s edge. It was just about a year ago that Familia last blew a save in a regular-season game. He had converted 52 consecutive save opportunities in the regular season. But often there was danger. The Mets were in deep trouble last year and then Cespedes saved their season. Who is going to save this team now? Cespedes needs some help. This is a much different team and Familia has been flirting with disaster so many times this season it finally caught up to him and to Terry Collins, who has been a push-button manager when it comes to Familia. This one hurt the Mets deeply, as Familia gave up a one-out walk in the ninth, a run-scoring double to Yadier Molina to tie the game at 4-4, and then after appearing to get out of the inning with a tie after a fielder’s choice put a runner at first with two outs, Familia surrendered a stolen base to pinch-runner Jeremy Hazelbaker and then a killer double by pinch-hitter Kolten Wong that pushed across the goahead run.

Kevin Kernan

Cespedes was a realist in the Mets clubhouse. He was asked if he felt it was almost an automatic the Mets would win after his home run, and he said, “No, it’s baseball. To the 27th out, you don’t know the result. I have a lot of faith in Familia, but things unfortunately didn’t work out.’’

Collins admitted: “This is a tough one to take, you come back on an Adam Wainwright and have the chance to win the game. … Yeah, it’s a little bit tougher to take.’’

Can the Mets come back? They don’t have the same talent as last year.

Before the game Collins actually called on Cespedes to be the Mets savior, saying, “If we get Ces hot, he’s one of those guys that can just carry you for 10 days, two weeks. But it’s still going to take all nine guys.’’

It was last July 31 the Mets traded for Cespedes and that made all the difference. He was their Superman.

Now, the rest of this lineup isn’t cutting it. This marked Cespedes’ first home run since July 5. Since that time, he was batting .207. That’s a common number around the Mets because that’s what they came into the night batting with runners in scoring position, by far the worst in the majors.

After getting a hit their first chance with a runner in scoring position Wednesday night, a Neil Walker single that scored James Loney in the first, the Mets went 0-for-10 with RISP until Cespedes unloaded his bomb to left, his 22nd home run.

Collins has to lean on Cespedes because no big-time help is coming.

“There are track records on the back of baseball cards with some pretty good numbers and so quit looking to the outside and look on the inside of what we’ve got to do with guys in this room to get it done,’’ Collins said he told his team this week.

The room has enough talent, Collins insisted.

Beyond Cespedes is there enough talent to make it back to the postseason and a deep run into the playoffs?

Collins said the Mets had a meeting before this series and had this strong message to his players: “Look, no matter what you are hearing until the 31st, don’t get caught up in it, understand something, we have the pieces in this room to get it done.’’

We will see. It’s a much different year.