In the last three weeks, the Mets offense has completely transformed itself.
It all started on July 24th, the day the team called up top hitting prospect Michael Conforto and acquired Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson from the Braves. The new additions paid immediate dividends, as the very next day the Mets pounded 15 runs in a blowout win against the Dodgers.
The day after that, Uribe delivered in his “Mets moment,” blasting a walk-off hit off the wall in left-center field, a game the Mets nearly lost after Jeurys Familia blew a save in the ninth inning.
The final piece of the puzzle didn’t arrive much later, just one week later in fact, as the Mets finally acquired their big bat in Yoenis Cespedes.
Michael Conforto was hitting just .205 in his first 16 games with the Mets, while Uribe hit .163/.243/.372 and Johnson hit .153/.200/.263 in their first 14 games with the club. Cespedes fared better, hitting .262/.279/.333 in his first 10 games since the trade, but even he underwent an 0-for-11 slide at the plate.
On Thursday, however, the newbies took matters into their own hands and showed us what they can really do. The combination of Conforto, Uribe, Johnson and Cespedes were all in the starting lineup against the Rockies, and all of them contributed in big ways.
The quartet of fresh blood combined to go 8-for-16 at the plate with five doubles, a home run, five RBI, six runs scored and a walk in the team’s 12-3 drubbing against Colorado.
The Mets found themselves in a 2-0 hole early, a deficit that less than one month ago may have been too much for this team to overcome. But with this infusion of new talent and the confidence which has clearly been instilled inside the Mets dugout, things have completely changed.
After a mainstay in Daniel Murphy got them on the board with an RBI double, Uribe and Johnson both followed up with RBI doubles of their own, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Johnson, who had struggled the most of the four, had the biggest day of all of them on Thursday, as he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI. Conforto went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and three runs scored, while Uribe went 1-for-4 with his RBI double and Cespedes went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI single himself.
There’s no question while these four new Mets weren’t hitting all that much themselves, they were still huge additions for the Mets offense, as the team’s offensive output nearly doubled after Conforto’s call-up from 3.4 runs per game to nearly six. And when the new guys finally put it together on Thursday afternoon, they combined with those who were here before to put on a light show with the bats against the lowly Rockies pitching staff.
They’ve helped lengthen the lineup, as there are now legitimate threats aside from Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson. Gone are the days Terry Collins is forced to start minor league fill-ins, and bench players on a daily basis.
Now those guys are where they belong – in the minors or on the bench.
They now have a legitimate threat in every lineup spot, and can win in any number of ways on any given day, regardless of the opponent.
It’s refreshing, it’s relieving, and it’s fun to watch now on a daily basis.
Just Mets 