SAN FRANCISCO — Yoenis Cespedes reached down, unhinged the lock on the door, and shut it just enough to shield prying eyes from the indoor batting cage at AT&T Park. He did not pick up a bat.
Instead, hours before staging a one-man exhibition, Cespedes sat down on a plastic chair, fished a Marlboro red out of his pocket, and blew puffs of smoke into the air. He looked relaxed and confident, comfortable and self-assured.
Soon, it was as if the rest of the Mets suddenly remembered how to carry themselves in the same way. In a 9-5 thrashing of the Giants on Saturday afternoon, the Mets took a break from looking so beleaguered. They were the bullies, with Cespedes leading the charge. He homered twice, ending a three-game losing streak assuring that the Mets would not be swept in a four-game set that wraps up Sunday.
Others delivered bigger contributions. Alejandro De Aza broke the game open with a three-run shot in the sixth. The ageless Bartolo Colon limited the Giants to just two runs in 6 1⁄3 innings. But none did so with more panache than Cespedes, who knocked in three runs in his second game back from the disabled list.
After an RBI double in the first, Cespedes bashed a 457-foot homer to centerfield in the third, pushing the Mets’ lead to 3-0. And in the seventh, after De Aza’s blast an inning before had put the game out of reach, Cespedes provided an exclamation point.
Cespedes’ second homer, a towering blast, landed in the upper reaches of the leftfield stands. It was his first multihomer game since hitting three last August in Colorado, when his arrival via a trade from the Tigers had spurred a second-half renaissance.
Repeating such theatrics would be an overly ambitious request for the Mets, who will need much more to overcome the deficit they have created for themselves. Even with the victory, they remain a game below the .500 mark (61-62) and five games behind the Cardinals for the final wild-card spot (pending St. Louis’ game in Philadelphia).
It may already be too late.
But with the season on the brink of being lost, a healthy and productive Cespedes represents the Mets’ best chance to keep themselves in the race.
..... - Newsday