A Flores Story

I know it's a bit late to write a story about Wilmer Flores' big homer against the Nats, but I've had a really busy month and I wasn't satisfied with any of the accounts I'd read about Flores' big night.  Thus, I'm going to attempt to write a Flores story myself - a story that won't just focus on that magical Friday night - a story that will start at the beginning.

Wilmer Flores entered the world on August 6th 1991.  He entered the Mets organization about 16 years later, but he didn't enter my life until about May of 2010.

In May of 2010, my Aunt Barbara invited Ruth, the boys, and me to a Lakewood BlueClaws game.  The BlueClaws are a single A minor league team that plays close to where she lives.  We went on May 8th; she picked that day because the BlueClaws were playing the Savannah Sand Gnats, a single A affiliate of the New York Mets.  My aunt told me that the player to watch that day was Wilmer Flores, the Sand Gnats' talented 18-year old shortstop.

Looking back, I regret not taking any pictures of Flores that day, but he kinda appears in a photo Ruth took.  If you take a look at the photo below, the first thing you'll probably notice is the giant fried egg to the left of the 3rd base line.  However, if you look to the right of that to the sun-washed part of the photo, Wilmer Flores is represented by the handful of pixels in the shortstop position.

Flores didn't disappoint that day.  He went 3 for 4 with a triple.  I have no idea if the photos below were taken when the boys were celebrating Flores' triple, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

Anyway, Flores looked like a man playing against boys that day.  From that day forward, I was sure he was going to be a major leaguer someday, and I was looking forward to the day he joined the Mets.

That day came late in the 2013 season.  Unfortunately, he didn't impress much, posting a AVG/OBP/SLG of .211/.248/.295 in 27 games.

I was hoping he'd do better with more regular playing time the next year, but in 78 games in 2014, he only a .253/.287/.388 line.

It 2015, it looked like things might be falling into place, both for Flores and the Mets.  Flores' defense at shortstop had been shaky, and he wasn't exactly Babe Ruth with the bat, but by the end of the day on June 12th, he'd hit a respectable 10 homers in 62 team games ( on pace to hit 26 homers for the season, which is really good for a shortstop, especially in this season that has been dominated by pitching ) and the Mets found themselves 1.5 games ahead of the Washington Nationals for first place in the National League East division.

However, soon after that, things went south for both Flores and the Mets.  From June 17th to June 24th the Mets only scored 9 runs in a 7 game losing streak.  The Mets and Flores's hitting woes continued into late July.  By the morning of July 29th, the Mets found themselves in 2nd place and Flores had not homered since June 12th.  Flores also didn't homer on July 29th as the Mets lost 7-3, but that wasn't the big story that night.

During the game, reports began to circulate that the Mets had agreed to send Wilmer Flores and Zack Wheeler to the Brewers for center fielder Carlos Gomez.  Thanks to social media, most fans at the game were soon aware of the impending trade, but nobody had bothered to tell Wilmer Flores or Mets manager Terry Collins.  When Flores came to bat at in the bottom of the 7th inning the Mets fans greeted him with a standing ovation.  Flores was confused by this, but at some point when he got back to the dugout somebody informed him ( I've read some reports that say it was a fan behind the dugout ) that he'd been traded.  It's not clear that Terry Collins was aware of the trade at this point, but he probably wasn't because he sent Wilmer out to play shortstop in the top of the 8th ( You generally wouldn't play a guy if you knew he was about to be traded because an injury suffered on the field would invalidate the trade ).  It's at that point, that the night became surreal.  Standing at his shortstop position, Wilmer started to cry.  Wilmer had been part of the Mets organization since he'd been 16 and had said in the past he wanted to be a "Met for life".  He now knew he was playing his last game as a Met, the fans had given him a standing-O to send him off, and I guess it was all too much for him.

As bizarre as all this was, things were about to get stranger.  After the game, Terry Collins ( who finally got a clue and sent Flores to the clubhouse ( with clubhouse leaders David Wright and Michael Cuddyer to console him ) in the bottom of 8th ) claimed that he was not aware that any trade had been finalized and shortly after that Mets GM Sandy Alderson said that the trade was not going to happen.  Initially Alderson wouldn't say why the trade had been called off, but it was later leaked that the Mets had nixed the trade because they had medical concerns about Gomez's hip ( The Brewers claimed that the trade fell through because the cheap Mets wanted the Brewers to pay a big chunk of Gomez's remaining contract and the Brewers refused.  I imagine the truth is somewhere between the Mets story and the Brewers story. ).

  All these events made the Mets laughing-stocks of the baseball world ( This wasn't really anything new.  Things had gotten so bad for the Mets over the last decade that there was a popular hashtag called #lolmets ), but it also had a different effect on lots of Mets fans.  I made the facebook post below on the night of the aborted trade, and the part in red sums up the way lots of Mets fans felt about Flores after that night.

Not really upset about Gomez trade falling through. He's a good player and would have been an updrade over an injured Lagares and Kirk, but ...
1) He's not having a good year. I haven't been paying attention to him this year, but considering that he's only stolen 7 bases this year and has been caught 6 times tells me he has not been healthy this year. He's 29 and I'm always wary about speed guys as they get close to their 30's. Reyes fell of a cliff after left the Mets at 28. 
2) I'd rather have Grandy as my lead-off man rather than Gomez because Grady has an OBP of .347 this year while Gomez has an career OBP of .315. Speed doesn't help if you are not getting on base. Gomez has never scored 100 runs in a season, which seems impossible for a guy with his kind of speed.
-----
I wouldn't have been that upset to see Wheeler go ( He's coming off Tommy John surgery and his reluctance to throw strikes ( seriously, I don't think it's his control - he seems afraid to throw sttikes ) has always driven me crazy. However, his trade value has got to be pretty low coming off of TJS, so I'd rather the Mets trade him when he's throwing gas in spring training next year.
As for Flores, he's been slumping for a month, and it's not clear if ...
1) we'll even find him a position.
2) he'll ever hit for enough power to justify his low OBP and walk rate.
Still, he might be my favorite Met now, because its clear that he *wants* to be a Met based on how he reacted tonight. Hopefully this lights a fire under him.

 Yes, Mets fans fell in love with Wilmer Flores that night because it was clear that despite the Mets troubles, despite all the #lolmets garbage, he wanted to be a Met.  There was a part of me that hoped that this non-trade could be the turning point in both the Flores' and the Mets season.  I expressed those feelings in the post below.

If this Mets season was a baseball movie, it would end with Flores getting the game-winning hit in game 7 of the World Series.

However things would get worse before they would get better.  Flores didn't cry ( or play ) the next day, and the Mets were not involved in aborted trades, but things got so bad, it prompted me to write the following facebook post.

Wow, Mets go from being a game out of first to being the laughing stock of baseball in less than 24-hours. I'm sure all of you know about the Gomez/Flores stuff, but did you hear what happened today?
- Mers had a 7-1 lead after 6. 
- Collins then inexplicitly takes Niese out of the game after 6 ( considering how bad the Mets middle-relief is, no Mets starter who is pitching well should be removed until he has pitched at least 7. ).
- middle relievers give up grand slam in top of 7th to make score 7-5.
- Mets still leading 7-5 to start 9th. Familia gets first 2 batters out. Umps then decide to have rain delay rather than let Familia get last out.
After short delay umps tells ground crew to remove tarp to start game again, despite the fact that radar clearly shows massive storm is on the way.
- By the time the game resumes, it is raining. Familia attempts to get last out as it continues to rain harder. He gives up 2 singles followed by a 3-run HR. 8-7!
- After Familia gets last out, umps call for another rain delay, but Mets ground crew can't get the fuckin' tarp on the fuckin' field. Infield is submerged and play is delayed for hours.
WTF!
The only way to erase this is to sweep Nats this weekend. Not 2 out of 3 - sweep.

Yes, so after a disastrous Thursday, the Mets found themselves 3 games out of first with the first-place Nats coming to town on Friday.  It would be the biggest series in the history of Citi Field ( opened in 2009 ) considering that the Mets had finished with a losing record every season from 2009 to 2014 ), but as exciting as that was, I was more excited to hear the Flores would be playing that night.  It would be his first appearance since he cried on the field, and I knew the night was bound to be a Wilmer love-fest.  I just hoped he had a good game in him.  How great would it be if Wilmer could follow-up the Crying Game with a great performance verses the Mets biggest rival in the biggest game of the year?  I knew that was too much to ask, but I was hoping for it as much as you could hope for something as a sports fan.

Well, "Flores Night" got off to a great start when Flores made a nice diving play on a ground ball in the first inning.  It earned Wilmer his first standing ovation of the night.  Well, actually, the play itself wasn't worthy of a standing-O, but after the Wednesday night tears, the fans were ready to give Wilmer a standing-O at the drop of a hat.  Wilmer got his second standing O of the night when he came to the plate for the first time in the 2nd inning.  He grounded out, but the fans didn't care.  Wilmer wanted to be a Met, and we all loved him for it.

After Wilmer got his first standing-O in the first, I made a facebook post which I believe expressed the sentiments of lots of Mets fans that night..

Love that Flores started his first inning back since the Gomez debacle with a nice play. I hope he homers today.

Perhaps, a homer was too much to ask for, but all Mets fans were thrilled in the 4th inning when Flores singled to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  It earned Wilmer his 3rd standing ovation of the night, and the way Matt Harvey was pitching, we all thought it might hold up as the game-winning hit in a 1-0 victory.  Harvey was still cruising with a 1-0 lead in the top of the 8th when a typical Mets thing happens to the Mets.  Harvey has gotten the first 2 guys out in the 8th.  He had two strikes on Nats pinch-hitter Clint Robinson.  He had only thrown about 90 pitches so far, so if he could end the inning on the next pitch or so, he might be given the opportunity to to complete the shutout in the 9th.  However, Harvey's next pitch hit Robinson.  Well actually, the home plate umpire said Harvey's pitch hit Robinson.  It actually didn't hit Robinson - it didn't come close to hitting Robinson.  The home plate umpire thought the ball hit Robinson's foot, but the overhead camera clearly showed that the ball hit the ground about 8 inches in front of Robinson's foot.  There was no doubt that the ball hit the ground; the overhead replay showed smooth dirt before the ball passed over it, and then a baseball-sized indentation in the dirt after the ball passed by.  Once you accept that the ball hit the dirt you don't have to be a Physics PhD to understand that ball would have bounced over Robinson's foot after it hit the ground.  Fortunately, baseball has replay these days and after Mets manager Terry Collins challenged the call.  I was certain that the replay official would overturn the call and send Robinson from first base back to home plate.  After a few minutes of deliberation the umpires announced the decision and I was stunned and incensed that they let the original call stand.  Every Mets fan in the world knew deep down in their bones that this bad call was going to cost us the lead, and when the Nats tied the game later in the 8th inning, I reacted with the following post.

Holy shit! Mets just got SOOOOOOOO screwed by umps, and of course it leads to us losing the lead. If we lose this game, I give up for this season. We are just so *FUCKING* snakebit. I can't believe this fucking week. Why do I watch this team anymore? I need somebody to pull some "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" shit on me so I stop loving this team.

Well, this was certainly the low point.  I really meant what I wrote, and I think lots of Mets fans felt the same way.  We were going to lose again, it was going to be another lost season, and I didn't see a reason to torture myself anymore.

Still, I didn't turn the TV off.  I didn't turn the TV off for one reason, and that reason was Wilmer.  This game wasn't over yet, and there was chance, no matter how remote, that Wilmer could still be the hero in this game.  After the Mets failed to score in a 1-1 game in the bottom of the 11th inning, I posted ...

Well, at least Flores might have one more chance to be the hero today. Too bad his talent doesn't match his passion.

Yes, I didn't really think Wilmer had the talent to be the hero, but I oh so wanted it for him.

After the Mets kept the Nats from scoring in the top of the 12th, the stage was set for Wilmer.  Right before Flores led off the bottom of the 12th inning, my cousin Steven posted the following.

Flores walk off.... Let's gooooo

Meanwhile, my cousin Eileen's husband Kevin ( who was at the game ) worked his way towards the stands near the Mets on-deck circle and shouted out to Flores that the Mets fans love him.

The stage was set.  Millions of Mets fans were willing Flores to come up big, but I really didn't think he had it in him.  Then Flores did this ...

The photo above is of Flores crossing home plate after his game-winning homer.  Notice what he's doing with his right hand?  He's tugging on the Mets logo on his jersey.  Wilmer Flores - Met for life.

As Mets fans celebrated this moment, we hoped it would mark a turning point, both for Flores and the Mets.  So far, it has.  Since walking out of the on-deck circle in the 12th inning that night, Flores' AVG/OBP/SLG line is .333/.367/.587 and the Mets have gone 19 - 6 to go from being 3 games behind the Nationals to 6.5 games ahead of the Nationals ( I'm writing this on the afternoon of August 28th ).

As Terry Collins said in his post-game press conference after the Flores Homer, "I'm am sitting here looking at some guys who are outstanding writers - outstanding - and you can't write that.  You guys couldn't come up with that, and you're good.  Unbelievable".  It's really been a storybook month for Wilmer and Mets and all of us Mets fans are hoping it's going to wind up being a storybook season.

Rich