Kapler trying to turn page after warm-up debacle

All things considered, Mickey Callaway’s tenure as the Mets’ manager has gotten off to a fairly uneventful start. His counterpart with the Phillies, meanwhile, arrived at Citi Field under some early fire that lingered for another day as Monday’s game against the Mets got snowed out. First-year manager Gabe Kapler made headlines for all the wrong reasons during the Phillies’ opening series in Atlanta, hitting a low point when he called for a reliever that hadn’t yet warmed up. On Saturday, with Phillies starter Vince Velasquez laboring and at 69 pitches with two outs in the third inning, Kapler went to the mound to make a change. Reliever Hoby Milner, who had already pitched twice in the first two days of the season, was his choice.

But Milner hadn’t thrown a warm-up pitch, so Kapler tried to stall, aggravating Braves manager Brian Snitker, batter Freddie Freeman and even crew chief Jerry Layne, who said whoever was at fault should have to answer to MLB.

“It’s a pretty good indication that I need to do a better job and I will,” Kapler told reporters, according to philly.com. “One of the things I pride myself on is being an excellent com- municator and I will continue to strive for excellence in that regard.”

Milner was docked three warm-up pitches for taking too long to get to the mound, while Layne had to handle the fallout.

Kapler, a polarizing figure known for some unconventional methods, had previously spent one year as a minor league manager and three as the Dodgers’ director of player development.

The 42-year-old demonstrated a quick hook for his starting pitchers in the first series. He used 18 relievers in three games, one of them a position player.

“I am remaining 100 percent positive,” Kapler said. “I believe in this club. I believe in the men in that clubhouse. I believe in our coaching staff and there’s no chance that I’m going to let three games, two of them tougher, derail what we’re trying to accomplish here, which is to go to the postseason in 2018, which I believe we will do.”

The snow couldn’t stop Michael Conforto from inching closer to a return. The center fielder had a simulated game against Jason Vargas moved inside Monday, but he still was able to get some swings in.

Nearly six months removed from surgery to repair a tear in the posterior capsule in his left shoulder, Conforto is eligible to come off the disabled list Thursday.

“Everything felt good,” Conforto told the Mets’ Twitter account. “... It’s good to be back in New York.”