Remember the boo birds that clamored around Flushing for the first week because of the lack of offensive production from Yoenis Cespedes?
The same treatment that befell Carlos Beltran when he got out to a slow start in 2006, only to become a hero of that season, barring the memories of an Adam Wainwright strikeout.
Well, a record-breaking 12-run third inning Friday night against the San Francisco Giants certainly brought back the old cheers that followed him after the trade deadline just a season ago.
Cespedes capped off the frame with a laser of a grand slam that cleared the fence in left field.
“When Cespedes hits a grand slam, you just get used to him doing something big, and he came through again,” Mets’ manager Terry Collins said.
The loud roar from a Citi Field crowd of 39,764 resembled that of the sound heard after his Game 3 three-run homer off the Dodgers’ Alex Wood in the NLDS.
Think the fans are back behind Cespedes again? Yeah, I think so.
It was the highest one-inning run output in franchise history, topping the former mark of 11 set by the 2006 squad against the Cubs.
Meanwhile, Cespedes’ six RBIs in the inning were a new Mets record, shattering the former mark set by the last Amazin’ to ever don Jackie Robinson’s subsequently-retired 42. That’s right, Butch Huskey, who drove in five runs against the then-Florida Marlins in 1998.
Cespedes wasn’t done there. He set a new franchise record for consecutive games with an extra-base hit with nine.
“He’s (Yoenis) is a great player. I hope he stays red hot,” Collins commented. “We are going to need everything he’s got as we get into this (the season), but there are a lot of things that are going on right now that I like a lot.”
“When we signed him, it was a huge move for us,” Collins added. “He puts that legitimate big-time bat in the middle of our lineup that every good team needs to have. He takes the load off so many other guys. (The rest of the team) can relax and do their own thing. He’s doing what we got him for, and that’s drive them in.”
Well, the Mets’ sizzling-hot bats have the Amazins’ on a seven-game winning streak and riding a stretch of 12 victories in their last 14 games.
The expectations are for another magical year.
Stay tuned.