THE deGROMINATOR!

JACOB CUFFS CARDS, GIVES METS SPLIT WITH MLB’S BEST

THERE are still so many things that force you to take pause as a Mets fan, so many issues that prevent you from completely buying in to them. The offense is still offensive more often than not, despite Thursday’s power surge from Lucas Duda, despite Michael Cuddyer collecting three hits, despite the 5-0 victory.

There is zero confidence ownership would approve any upgrade that comes at a cost, because despite their howls of protest the Wilpons still run their club on austerity. And even if they would, beyond one author and a few notable acolytes there is little faith the general manager could pull off an impact major-league transaction, because his track record screams otherwise.

There are also the days when the starting pitchers whose arms are fueled by something less than rocket fuel take the mound. Jon Niese’s last two starts have been little more than batting practice without screens; Bartolo Colon’s expiration date sometimes seems hours away, and his quirks are substantially less charming when he’s getting cuffed around; Dillon Gee is a gutsy grinder, but too often looks like a right-handed version of Niese on his worst days. But, goodness … When the young guns are scheduled to work … And when they work like this … “It’s something to see,” manager Terry Collins said.

It’s more than something to see, it’s something to believe in, something to carry you past all the doldrums and all the warning signs and all the red flags. And maybe, by themselves, enough to carry the Mets through the summer, even if they seem destined to wind up on the periphery of contention in the NL East.

This time it was Jacob deGrom, who threw eight innings and 104 pitches at the Cardinals, who surrendered one single to the best team in baseball, who struck out 11, walked none, retired the final 23 batters to face him — all on a day when the Mets desperately needed him to be that good, when there was little margin for error most of the time he was out there.

Collins often speaks about the alpha- dog role Matt Harvey assumes on this team, a visceral gift that goes beyond the box score and beneath the numbers. Harvey wants to be the Mets’ stopper. He wants to serve as a roadblock to losing streaks. Monday, it was Harvey who threw eight brilliant innings at the Cardinals in what became a 2-1 Mets win long after he was lifted.

And Thursday, remarkably, deGrom bettered it.

“These guys, they feed off each other,” Collins said. “They get pumped up with the challenge when they see what the other guy does, and say, ‘I’ve got to shut them down.’ And he did that today.” Collins smiled. “And I think Noah buys into that, too.”

That would be Noah Syndergaard, who Friday night in Pittsburgh will make his third big-league start five days after overwhelming the Brewers in his second, whose own challenge will include not only trying to match what Harvey and deGrom have done this week but squaring off with the Pirates’ own resident hard-throwing stud, Gerrit Cole.

As many changes as baseball endures, there remain two things that can bring a ballpark to a stop and make viewers at home refuse to turn the channel: a slugger digging in, and a hard-throwing pitcher shoving. Maybe Duda can parlay a two-homer day into something resembling that across the summer; what the Mets specialize in, right now, is the other.

And goodness … when it works like this …

“Every time a guy has a great outing, everyone feeds off it, we all want to go out and try to do the same thing,” said deGrom, who had battled hip and shoulder issues the past few weeks and Thursday finally felt closer physically to the pitcher that won the Rookie of the Year plaque last spring.

“You get in a groove like that, you can’t wait to get the ball back and throw it again. You just want to put your team in a position to win, so badly.”

This is what nourishes the Mets now. This is what enlivens the fans. They see an unwatchable offense most days. They see a front office either too unwilling or too poor to fortify it. But they are fans: even the most disillusioned want the same thing. You think Harvey and deGrom — and maybe Syndergaard, too, with Steven Matz to come — feed off each other?

They’re a buffet table to hungry Mets fans right now. All you can eat.