An MMO Fan Shot from Sgt. Kevin Belickis, USMC
Entering play on July 31st, The New York Mets offense ranked at the bottom of the MLB at 3.56 runs per game. Let’s be honest with ourselves, they were horrible. They were three games over .500, but somehow just three games out of first place coming into a HUGE series with the rival Washington Nationals.
As I stood in my kitchen prepping food to cook for the opening game, I anxiously watched the clock. As of 3:59 I hadn’t gotten an update or a tweet or anything about The Mets acquiring the bat that we so coveted, desperately needed, and seemingly had missed out on in the trade for Carlos Gomez that wasn’t.
I was paranoid. “Could we really have come so close to making a big move, with the division in reach, only to let the deadline come and go without an upgrade? How could they do this to us again?” I started throwing more food on, I had a feeling I was going to be stress-eating my hurt feelings away over the course of what could be a painful weekend.
Then, something amazing happened. At 4:00 my phone started buzzing. Then it buzzed again, and again. I could hear it vibrating across the counter as I was wrist deep in a bowl of chopped meat. My computer started chirping from the table with the sound of incoming Facebook messages.
“Oh God,” I thought, at first. “We didn’t make a move, and these are my Yankee and Cardinals fans friends calling to give me a hard time.”
I was down trodden and a little depressed, but in the back of my mind I still had hope. Maybe we had managed to do something. Maybe Sandy held true to his word and went out and got us an impact bat, and this buzz was the excitement of Mets fans across the country that I talk baseball with every day.
I washed my hands and grabbed my phone, I’ll never forget it. The first notification was from twitter. “NY Mets trade minor league pitchers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa to Detroit.” I didn’t even have to read the rest. I knew, in that moment, that we had gotten the man I wanted us to get. I wanted Yoenis Cespedes at the deadline last year when Oakland prepared to unload him, and was let down. I wanted him in the offseason when Boston needed pitching, and we hadn’t yet signed Cuddy. I wanted him the moment I heard we were looking for an outfield bat. And now it was really happening, he was coming to Citi Field.
Cespedes made his way into the lineup on August 1st, and we haven’t looked back. Since that day, the Mets have gone 22-9 and blew past the Nationals with a 6.5 game lead as of this writing. We have scored 6.35 runs per game and have hit over 45 homeruns and set a new franchise record for homers in a month, including a franchise record breaking eight HR in a HUGE come from behind victory in Philly.
To put all of that in perspective, the Mets hit 125 homeruns ALL of last year. However after Wednesday night’s 9-4 win over the Phillies they already have 138 this season, with 29 games still left to play. And 36% of our HRs have come since Cespedes entered our lineup. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
After a huge 3-for-5 night with an eighth-inning home run, Cespedes has 18 RBI over his last 12 games and is hitting .295 (38-129) with 23 runs scored, six doubles, two triples, 10 home runs and 26 RBI in 30 games for the Mets. His 18 extra-base hits in his first 30 games with the Mets has also tied a franchise record.
It’s not just the numbers that he has put up that have made this team better. His presence in the lineup was felt immediately, when he was intentionally walked in front of Lucas Duda in the 8th inning of his first game. The red hot Lucas promptly deposited a screaming double to left allowing Granderson to score the all-important insurance run, putting The Mets up 3-1 late in the game, on their way to sweeping themselves into a tie for a hold on 1st place that they have not since relinquished.
Think about that. Lucas was absolutely scorching hot at the time. He had homered 8 times in the past 9 games, including 2 earlier that day. The Nats STILL chose to face Duda over Cespedes, and he made them pay for it.
This team has played fantastic baseball since Cespedes arrived. He has been a catalyst for this team to excel, and excel they have. His contributions to this team are immeasurable.
It’s still a bit early to discuss this and it’s probably not going to happen, but if Cespedes keeps on producing and the Mets keep on winning, could it be possible that we have our first MVP in team history? Probably not as Bryce Harper is having a great season for a team that is falling out of the race, despite his production. But Cespedes has certainly impacted the Mets in an MVP kind of way and that’s what MVP’s are supposed to do.
Cespedes has lit his team on absolute fire. The Mets were 17-32 on the road when he showed up. It was a glaring weakness, as they had such great success at home. Now, they’re 29-35 on the road.
Being under .500 isn’t great, but this is a HUGE improvement with as they’ve gone 12-3 since Cespedes arrived. If they can get to a point that they win 35+ road games, I’ll be ecstatic and I think you all should be too considering how poorly the year started. They have 18 games left each on the road and at home.
Could we see a 90 win team in Queens? 93? 95? With Yoenis Cespedes in the line-up, he’s got Mets fans (and Nationals fans) thinking anything is possible, and that this team might just be invincible. The sky is the limit, and it’s a good thing because I’m so incredibly high on this team.
Yoenis Cespedes has completely transformed the Mets offense and has taken it from impotent to a mind-staggering lethal.
* * * * * * * *
This Fan Shot was contributed by Sgt. Kevin Belickis, USMC. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 30,000 Met fans who read this site daily.
Send your Fan Shot to [email protected]. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.
