Yo, what a day! Cespedes and deGrom have Mets off to a great start
Yoenis Cespedes follows through on his solo home run, the first by a Mets DH, in the club's Opening Day win over the Braves on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Opening Day is a time of rebirth, and reintroductions, and a chance to rekindle dormant emotions buried by a long winter. But on Friday at Citi Field, this was not your typical season opener, attended only by cardboard fans and LaGuardia-bound airliners. Incredibly, it had been 299 days since the Mets last played a game that counted.
Jacob deGrom, as you may remember, was the guy who won two consecutive Cy Young Awards despite winning a total of 21 games. Yoenis Cespedes, the boar-dodging slugger with the shrinking contract, you barely remember at all, given that he hadn’t taken a meaningful swing since July 2018.
The coronavirus had kept all of us socially distanced from baseball, but in its return to Flushing, we again were treated to the familiar — and reminded of just how good that could look in a Mets uniform. DeGrom pitched five masterful innings for another brilliant no-decision and a majestic blast from Cespedes — the first home DH in Mets history — delivered a 1-0 victory over the Braves.
Citi Field was mostly quiet Friday, aside from the pumped-in crowd noise and the occasional roar overhead. But for Cespedes, the buzz around him was always there, and he was thrilled to silence the critics.
“Some people said good things, a lot of people said bad things,” Cespedes said through an interpreter. “And that was one of the things that kept me motivated to come back. Being able to hit a home run after being out for two years, it proved to me that I could still be the same player that I used to be.”
In deGrom’s case, nothing had changed. The Mets’ ace was his usual brilliant self, allowing only a broken-bat single in five scoreless innings before leaving with another ND in his back pocket. Five of his first six pitches were 99 mph. The other touched 100. Even for deGrom, that’s a bit extra-toasty. Could it be that the extended layoff meant more fuel than usual for late July?
“I felt really good in the spring,” said deGrom, referring to what seems like a lifetime ago. “I felt like the ball was coming out really well, and then with this time off, I think you guys know I’m always working on my delivery, trying to get it as smooth as I can and repeat it. I felt like I was very under control.”
And in command. The Braves’ hardest-hit ball off deGrom was Ender Inciarte’s 78-mph fly ball to the warning track leading off the third inning. Shortly afterward, deGrom threw a 93-mph slider (on an 0-and-2 count) to Ronald Acuna Jr. that exploded his bat, yet turned into a ground-ball single that just eluded the reach of Amed Rosario. Otherwise, deGrom struck out eight and walked one for his 12th career start of at least five scoreless innings without getting a W.
That’s the same old story for deGrom. He has a 2.03 ERA in 65 starts since the 2018 season, but the Mets improved to only 29-36 in those games with Friday’s opening victory. Just for the sake of comparison, the Yankees’ new $324 million ace, Gerrit Cole, was not quite as dominant Thursday night with his five-inning stint, teeing up a long homer by Adam Eaton. But that was plenty for his own rain-shortened 4-1 victory over the Nationals.
DeGrom started watching Cole’s performance but apparently got outvoted by the kids into watching cartoons instead. To him, that was just as well. He’s never paid too much attention to his Bronx adversaries unless he’s facing them.
“My goals are the same every time and that’s go out there, put up zeros,” he said. “What another team is doing, I just try to go out there and compete for my team.”
With deGrom coming off two Cy Young seasons, we knew he would be electric as always. He’s about as close to a sure thing as there is in the sport.
As for Cespedes, this wasn’t as simple as handing him a bat and pushing him out there on a pair of surgically repaired ankles. Or so we thought.
Cespedes, 34, had raked during summer camp but looked overmatched in two exhibition games against the Yankees. That continued against the Braves’ Mike Soroka, who made him look bad on a pop-up behind the plate and a check-swing groundout to third.
Once the Braves went to reliever Chris Martin, however, the narrative changed with one swing. Cespedes turned on an 0-and-1, 93-mph fastball, launching a long home run that sailed way to the far reaches of the leftfield lower seats. The loud crack was instantly followed by raucous cheers from the Mets’ dugout, which knew it was gone on impact. But is this Cespedes, after a triumphant Opening Day return, here to stay?
“With the way that I’ve been preparing myself, the way that I will continue to prepare myself and the way that I’ve been feeling better each and every day,” he said, “I still feel like I can and I will return to being that player from back then.”
That’s good enough for now. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to enjoy the moment, and the Mets certainly were happy with their long-overdue homecoming.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
