David Stearns knows Mets need to fix two areas plaguing team

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.A pair of issues have plagued the Mets for much of this season: poor hitting with runners in scoring position and shaky defense in the infield. President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said Friday the team needs to improve in both areas. While noting he believes success with runners in scoring position can be “random,” Stearns added, “With that being said, we have not been good in that spot over the course of the year and more recently over the last 10 days [or] two weeks.” He said the players “are extremely aware of this, and sometimes you wonder, ‘Is this a good thing or a bad thing to be as aware of this as they all are?’ ” Either way, it’s something they’ll need to improve upon. They survived again without a hit with runners in scoring position in Friday’s 4-2 win over Colorado, going 0-for-2 but getting three homers — two from Francisco Lindor and another from Starling Marte. Another flaw in the team has been its infield defense, where it has some of the worst metrics in baseball. Of the “uncharacteristic miscues,” as Stearns called them, “I think we will clean [them] up.

They’ve cost us a couple games.We understand how important every single out is.” Francisco Alvarez was in the lineup Friday against a lefty, even as his struggles this season have been especially apparent versus southpaws. Entering Friday’s series opener against the Rockies at Citi Field, the catcher was just 2-for-16 with no extra-base hits, with a .301 OPS against lefties, as opposed to a .744 OPS this year against right-handers. He went 0-for-3 Friday. Alvarez has typically been worse facing lefties than righties in his career, but not to this degree. It’s part of an overall poor start to the season, which Stearns said was due in part to the catcher missing most of spring training with a fractured ...