In a shocker of all shockers, the Mets lost their first game after Wednesday night’s humiliating come-from-ahead loss. On Thursday, Jason Vargas made an actual case to be ace of the staff with seven innings of one-run ball, but Hyun-Jin Ryu did what he has been doing all season and completely shut down New York’s offense. The Dodgers won 2-0 and took the series 3-1. Drew Gagnon showed why he should be the new Mets closer by striking out the only batter he faced.

No one throws like Gagnon. No one owns like Gagnon. No one mops up a really bad loss like Gagnon.

It’s still a work in progress. So, what now? The Mets continue their west coast swing with three games in Arizona this weekend against the Diamondbacks. The Snakes are reeling and desperate for victory after dropping four straight in Colorado. Now they have top pitching prospect Jon Duplantier making his first career start to open this series with the Mets. It will be Zack Wheeler on the hill for New York.

Zack Attack appeared to have figured something out in 2018, but this season he’s been mediocre, although frustratingly close to decent. The best part about Wheeler is that he goes deep into games — something he used to struggle with — and can save the Mets from their terrible, horrible, no good bullpen. Still, I can’t get very amped about a Wheeler start. He’s no Jason Vargas.

The Mets game doesn’t start until 9:40 p.m. on the east coast, and there are no Stanley Cup or NBA Finals games on tonight. What do we do? Probably watch the Yankees and the Red Sox. I’m not sure if the rivalry will ever get back to where it was in the early 2000s with A-Rod and Jason Varitek and Aaron Boone, but this series feels a little juicier than it has in recent years. The Yankees are rolling along despite all their injuries and the Red Sox are underachieving even though they have all that talent and the World Series title. Plus, Aaron Boone is still in the Bronx. Let’s go.

Thursday night’s game from Yankee Stadium got rained out, but the weather is looking a lot better today. Boston better freaking win because it’s a battle of lefties and Chris Sale is way more expensive than J.A. Happ. So you just know the Yankees are going to crush Sale and rub it in Boston’s face. Ugh that’s going to be terrible.