Remembering Mets History: (2015) Wilmer Flores Walk Off HR

On July 29th 2015- In a snowballing social media frenzy, it was reported that the Mets had traded Wilmer Flores to the Milwaukee Brewers along with Zack Wheeler in exchange for former Met; Carlos Gomez. When Flores came to bat the fans gave him a standing ovation & began shouting to him from the stands that he had been traded.

When he took the field in the top of the inning, the young Flores began to shed tears in a very emotional scene. It was a very upsetting for the young man who had been in the Mets organization since he was 16 years old.

With no official word coming from the TV broadcast it was still unclear what was happening. In the 9th inning, Manager Terry Collins was seen talking to Flores in the dugout as he removed him from the game. Mets Captain David Wright, Veteran Michael Cuddyer & Flores' friend Ruben Tejada followed Wilmer into the run way to support him.

After the game Manager Terry Collins was upset in his press conference, saying he knew nothing about a deal being made & had a game to win. Mets GM Sandy Alderson reported that no deal was going to happen.

The aftermath surrounding the incident was incredible. The media were all over the Mets organization (again) for the debacle & the Mets fans took Flores side. All of the baseball world & America cheered Flores. He soon became Citi field's sweetheart.
The Mets lost that game & the next one as well.

July 31st 2015: With the Mets having just announced late that afternoon that they had acquired Yoenis Cespedes in a last minute deal, the excitement around the club was a complete turn around from the low points of that week. The Mets (53-50) were still two games behind Matt Williams Washington Nats (54-47) as they went head to head at Citi Field in front of 36,164 Mets fans.

The starters were Matt Harvey for the Mets & Geo Gonzales for Washington.

Starting Lineups

	Washington Nationals				New York Mets
1	Anthony Rendon	2B		1	Curtis Granderson	RF
2	Yunel Escobar	3B		2	Ruben Tejada	SS
3	Jayson Werth	LF		3	Daniel Murphy	1B
4	Bryce Harper	RF		4	Juan Uribe	3B
5	Ryan Zimmerman	1B		5	Travis d'Arnaud	C
6	Ian Desmond	SS		6	Wilmer Flores	2B
7	Michael Taylor	CF		7	Juan Lagares	CF
8	Jose Lobaton	C		8	Eric Campbell	LF
9	Gio Gonzalez	P		9	Matt Harvey	P

As Flores stepped up to the plate in the 2nd inning, he was greeted with a standing ovation in his first start since the "crying incident". He grounded out weakly to third base. In the 4th, Juan Uribe & Travis d'Arnaud had both walked. Flores then came up & delighted the fans as he drove in Uribe with an infield single to Ian Desmond.

Meanwhile Matt Harvey had not allowed a hit & had struck out six through the first five innings. He gave up his first two hits in the 6th but still shut out the Nats into the 8th inning clinging to a one run lead. The Nats tied it up on a Yunel Escobar base hit scoring pinch runner, Danny Espinsosa.

The game would remain tied to the 12th inning as Tyer Clippard, Jeurys Familia, Hansel Robles & Carlos Torres held down the fort.

In the bottom of the 12th, Wilmer Flores led off the inning & blasted a dramatic walk off HR off Felipe Rivero, winning the game & placing himself among the cult heroes of Mets history.

Flores team mates & the fans went wild & all of America cheered for it's new hero- Wilmer Flores. It was an exciting moment & one to be remembered forever for the kid who loved being a Met so much he didn't want to be traded.

Quotes: Terry Collins- "You cant write that"