The scene at Citi Field was gloomy, both literally and figuratively.
I was there, having already spent five plus hours at the park. The scoreboard read Padres 8 Mets 7. Shock does not begin to describe the feeling of mine, as well as all other fans still there after 45 minutes of a rain delay that saw the Mets one out away from taking the series against the Padres. As the lighting, thunder and pouring rain came down it seemed like the Mets were headed back to where they’ve been for so many years, meaningless baseball.
It was just 15 hours prior where it seemed GM Sandy Alderson did something he’s never done, make a splash. Carlos Gomez was everything Mets fans wanted, an exciting leadoff hitter who could provide excitement to a fan base desperately looking for some in the lineup. To make matters worse, the Mets who already are the butt of many fans jokes, looked even worse when they let shortstop Wilmer Flores cry on national TV thinking he was traded from the organization he called home since he was just 16. To say it was a rough 24 hours for Mets fans is an understatement.
Fast Forward
In just 60 hours there has been a 180 reversal. To say everything has gone right wouldn’t do these last 60 hours justice. It has been both the most productive and exciting time since Citi Field opened in 2009. At 3:55 on Friday, with only five minutes until the trade deadline came and passed it looked as if it would be another uneventful day. When Twitter refreshed at 3:57 Bruce Levine put joy into my weekend and summer, “Source says Cespedes has been dealt to the Mets.” For a few moments it felt surreal, he’s probably poking fun at the Mets, was on every fans mind.
The next thing was what would the Mets be giving up. Zack Wheeler, who was in the cancelled trade from Wednesday came to mind first. When it was told to be two prospects (Fulmer is no average prospect but still no Wheeler, especially to the average fan)the fan base was ecstatic. In this day in age when everything happens so fast it was official shortly after and it was the start of what’s turned out to be a great weekend. Once 7 o’clock came around it was time for the biggest series yet of this season.
Cespedes wasn’t even in the building but there was still an added excitement in the building. Thankfully for the Mets the one constant on this team is great young pitching. This particular weekend has their best pitchers all lined up to pitch. Matt Harvey took the ball and was dominate all night. In the 12th inning still tied at 1 it was like Steven Spielberg was directing what was about to ensue. Wilmer Flores two nights after being the story in sports for the wrong reason hit a walk off home run to become the story for the right ones. As he pointed to the Mets logo across his chest the Citi Field crowd was headed for an August day with their beloved Mets 2 games back with two more against the first place Nationals.
Saturday came around and Jacob DeGrom, who might be the best pitcher in the national league not playing for the Dodgers took the hill. When the Mets were down 2-0 it was looking as though they would go down without a fight. Lucas Duda who has been under fire for not hitting hit two more Home Runs and the capacity crowd was electric. After the new Mets Yoenis Cespedes was questionably intentionally walked for Duda, he hit the go ahead RBI double in the bottom of the 8th. The second largest crowd in Citi Field history couldn’t have asked for a better game. Even the Nationals players took notice, Jayson Werth the former Philly and now National right fielder said, “It’s been a long time since we’ve come to play the Mets and had a packed stadium. It’s good for baseball. It makes it fun. It’s fun playing in games like this. Fans are into it. There’s a bunch of people there.” With August 1 having come and gone and the Mets locked in a division title battle it seems insane given how dire the situation seemed just a couple of days earlier.
In the words of Keith Hernandez, “The race is on.”
