Yoenis Cespedes shines again as Mets complete sweep of Nationals
General manager Sandy Alderson worked overtime in July adding pieces to the Mets scuffling offense, but realized in the hours leading to the non-waiver trade deadline that the most important part was still missing: The engine.
With little time to spare, he found perhaps the most potent engine available on the market, adding Yoenis Cespedes in a deal with the Detroit Tigers. Almost instantaneously, the Mets offense began running smoother than it has in years, and they haven’t looked back since.
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On Wednesday, New York completed a three-game series sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 5-3 victory, running their division lead to seven games. And right in the middle of it all again was their new engine, Cespedes, who delivered a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning.
Cespedes laid waste to a hanging breaking ball from reliever Drew Storen, capping a three-run Mets rally.
Earlier in the frame, Kelly Johnson launched a pinch-hit home run against Stephen Strasburg, who up to that point had dominated the game. Johnson was one of Alderson’s other July additions, and he’s paid dividends as well. In this series alone, Johnson contributed home runs against Strasburg and Max Scherzer.
The key though really has been Cespedes. Since debuting with New York on Aug. 1, the Mets have gone 25-11, turning a two-game deficit into a seven-game advantage. It’s the offense, which until that point had been mocked for its futility, that has been doing much of the heavy lifting and that all rests on the powerful shoulders of Cespedes.
That’s an incredible impact that can’t possibly be overstated.
The National League MVP race is a bit more open than that in the American League. If the Mets are able to complete this run to a division championship, there’s a definite argument to be made on Cespedes’ behalf. No player in the NL has done more to take his team to the next level. He is willing them to that level, and his teammates are currently feeding off it
The person most relieved by Cespedes arrival was manager Terry Collins. Through the Mets offensive struggles were hardly Collins’ doing, he was in the hot seat and likely on his way out without a turnaround. Now he just completed managing what he described as the most important series of his career, and his confidence as a skipper has never been higher.
The deeper the Mets get into a potential postseason run, the more under the microscope Collins will be. But he really doesn’t seem fazed. Even with the Matt Harvey drama hovering over his head, Collins knows he has all the parts to make it work now, he just has to keep the car on the road.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
