CHICAGO — Play better.
Buck Showalter’s reaction Thursday when asked about Marcus Stroman’s chest pounding and yelling into the Mets’ dugout the previous night was to offer a reminder his team could have prevented it.
“It pretty much doesn’t surprise anybody, right?” Showalter said of Stroman’s celebration. “It’s kind of his M.O., right? If you don’t like it, do something about it. Play better.”
Stroman, who signed with the Cubs before last season after pitching for the Mets, allowed two runs over eight innings for the victory.
Before leaving the mound he screamed into the Mets‘ dugout.
One Mets player who witnessed the scene later told The Post: “Show some respect. Be a professional. It isn’t all about you.”
Showalter stuck with Daniel Vogelbach on Thursday over other options at DH (including rookie Mark Vientos, who pinch-hit in the ninth inning). Vogelbach — who was 1-for-3 with a run scored on Thursday — entered play with a .188/.316/.292 slash line in May and was in a 1-for-14 (.071) slump over his previous seven games.
“He’s hit some balls hard, but I would like to think he’s close,” Showalter said before the Mets’ 10-1 blowout win on Thursday night. “We know what he’s capable of, it just hasn’t happened consistently for him yet. But he’s hit some balls hard that they have caught, especially on the ground. He’s capable of getting the ball in the air a little bit. He hit a ball the other night that we thought it had a chance.”
Showalter said much of his decision-making on whether to play Vogelbach or Vientos is based on projections.
“I get a lot of good input and take it all in,” Showalter said. “A lot of work goes into it.”
Showalter cited Vogelbach’s track record for offensive production as a factor he takes into account.
“It hasn’t happened as consistently as it has in the past, but there is only one way to revert back to that,” Showalter said. “He and Mark [Canha] both do a great job and that has been a little challenge for them early in the year. Pitchers have been throwing them a lot of good pitches to get ahead in the count early and that is usually not the case with those two guys.”