YO, ADRIAN! 5 RBIs POWER METS:
Yo may miss ‘3 days,’ but Met bats hot
SAN DIEGO — Yoenis Cespedes calmly stood in front of his locker Sunday afternoon, buttoning his dress shirt with both hands, and diagnosed himself as likely to miss three days. The Mets slugger left Sunday’s rout of the Padres in the third inning after jamming his left thumb on third base on a double steal.
“It’s not the first time this thing happened to me,” Cespedes said. “When I was playing with Oakland it happened a couple times. I would say I will take off three days.”
Cespedes had initial X-rays at Petco Park as the Mets were finishing off the Padres, 14-2. Those X-rays were negative for a broken bone, he and Mickey Callaway said. Cespedes said he is scheduled to have an MRI on the hand today when the team gets back to New York.
Cespedes slid headfirst into third base on a doublesteal in the top of the third inning. As he slid, instead of hitting the bag with the base of his hand, he hit it in such a way that his thumb got caught and bent back.
“This is not a big thing,” said Cespedes, who missed 81 games last season with leg injuries. “I will take three days off and hopefully be back soon.”
Cespedes spent all winter making sure he could keep his legs healthy. He even gave up golf during the season to try to keep himself in the lineup. The Mets’ focus this past offseason was in reorganizing their medical staff and trying to prevent injuries.
While this was just a freak accident, it will certainly be a disappointing one if Cespedes has to miss any time at all.
The Mets, who return to Citi Field coming off a 4-5 road trip, were just starting to see the slugger find his timing.
Before he was injured Sunday, Cespedes had a double and a single, extending his hitting streak to six games. In that span, he has hit .388 with two doubles, a home run and five RBI.
The surprise of the Mets’ first month of the season is they have been able to get off to a good start without the heart of their lineup: Cespedes, Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto have all been slumping early.
Even after his hot run, Cespedes is hitting just .233 after the first 26 games. He had a fluky start to the season, not contributing his normal power, but coming through in clutch situations. He had three game-winning hits during his “slump.”
Bruce, who singled Sunday, extended his hitting streak to seven games. He was hitting .211 coming into this road trip and over the last seven days has gone on a tear. He is 10-for-26 (.384) over that span. He has a double, a triple, a home run and five RBI.
Conforto singled twice Sunday but is hitting just .222 with one home run and six RBI. After missing the start of the season as he continued his rehab from September shoulder surgery, Conforto has drawn 17 walks in his first 20 games, but he has had trouble finding a pitch to barrell up.
“There have been a couple players who have started slow, including myself,” Cespedes said. “But, that’s why we are a team. Some (guys) have played well and that has really helped us.”
Sunday, Todd Frazier, who has been crucial to the Mets’ early run this season; Jose Reyes, who has had a slow start; and Adrian Gonzalez, who has had some big hits, carried the Mets. They each homered and Gonzalez had a five-RBI day.
That is what Callaway has liked about the first month of the season. He sees the culture of teamwork developing and thinks it bodes well for the long haul.
“I am pleased with it. I think we played the game the right way,” Callaway said. “In baseball, anything can happen. We saw some really good stuff, but the life from our players and the way they are playing the game, W I couldn’t have asked for more.” ell, maybe the only thing more Callaway and the Mets could ask for right now is for Cespedes to be right about this thumb issue being minor. A healthy Cespedes would be the best thing they could take away from this April.