Mets embrace ‘playoff’ vibe of series at Phillies

The Mets won the opener of their three-game series at the Philadelphia Phillies, where they ran away with an 11-3 win against the NL East’s top team, but they aren’t resting on Friday’s laurels.

“We’re playing well,” said New York manager Carlos Mendoza, whose team is 81-66 and remains a game ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the race for the third NL Wild Card spot. “We know we’re a good team and there’s a lot of things that we’re doing well. It starts with starting pitching. They continue to give us a chance. (Quintana) was the case today.

“But we’re making big plays when we need to. We’re getting big hits when we need to. There’s a lot of different ways that we continue to get the job done — running the bases, making plays, executing pitches. So we’re playing really good baseball right now and we need to continue to do that.”

Winners in 12 of their past 14 games, the Mets received contributions across the board as they mounted a six-run fifth inning and turned a scoreless tie into a laugher on the 88-59 Phillies’ home turf.

“It means a lot,” said left-hander Jose Quintana, who allowed three hits while striking out four in seven scoreless innings as he improved to 9-9 and lowered his 3.91 ERA. “It’s really important for us. Right now, we’re in a good race. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves, and every game is a new test.

“We keep fighting. We keep playing the way we’ve been doing, and this series is really important for us like the last couple series of the season. So, it’s going to be hard and we (have to) be ready for the next couple of games.”

With a quick turnaround and chance to win the series in Saturday’s 4:05 p.m. game on SNY, the Mets take a playoff mentality into this weekend.

“I think this series is going to be very similar to playoff baseball,” said left fielder Brandon Nimmo, whose 1-for-4 line featured a three-run home run in the fifth inning that widened the Mets’ 6-0 lead. “And in playoff baseball, everything is hanging on the edge of a knife and things can go well or poorly like that really quickly.

“So for us — to just keep hammering things out, keep having good at-bats, staying on him and then finally for that dam to break in the fifth I think is what you have to do with good pitchers. We were able to capitalize on some mistakes and I think it’s gonna be very, very similar to playoff baseball here.”