Mets Top 10 Wins of 2016, #1 - September 22 against Phillies
The Cabrera bat flip game. Do we need to say anything else?
The top 10 Wins of 2016 are as follows:
1!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sep 22, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (13) reacts after hitting a walk off three run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the 11th inning at Citi Field. The Mets won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
I chose this as the best win because of its position in the Wild Card hunt, the many lead changes, the thrill of battling back every time we were down, and the batflip. The combination of all of that led this to my choice for the best win of 2016.
The Mets were coming off a devastating sweep at the hands of the upstart Braves that ended with a great catch on a would-be-Walkoff by Yoenis Cespedes. The Mets, the Cardinals and the Giants all stood at 80-72 in the Wild Card race, and it was crucial for the Mets to get back in the win column. The Phillies clearly got amped up for the game, and gave the Mets their best. Luckily, swings from two shortstops prevented a loss from occurring.
Sep 22, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (left) has Gatorade thrown on him while doing a post game interview after hitting a walk off three run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the 11th inning at Citi Field. The Mets won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Box Score
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | PO | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jose Reyes 3B | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera SS | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 |
| Yoenis Cespedes LF | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| T.J. Rivera 2B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Curtis Granderson RF-CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Eric Campbell 1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| James Loney PH-1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Rene Rivera C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Lucas Duda PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Kevin Plawecki C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Alejandro De Aza CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Travis d’Arnaud PH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Brandon Nimmo PH-RF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Seth Lugo P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ty Kelly PH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Sean Gilmartin P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Erik Goeddel P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fernando Salas P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kelly Johnson PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Addison Reed P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hansel Robles P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Josh Edgin P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Bruce PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Jeurys Familia P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jerry Blevins P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Henderson P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Conforto PH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Team Totals | 42 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 47 | 33 | 12 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/31/2016.
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | BF | Pit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seth Lugo | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2.61 | 20 | 87 |
| Sean Gilmartin | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | 3 | 14 |
| Erik Goeddel | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.55 | 1 | 3 |
| Fernando Salas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.12 | 3 | 17 |
| Addison Reed, BS (4) | 0.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.08 | 5 | 19 |
| Hansel Robles | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.67 | 6 | 30 |
| Josh Edgin | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 1 | 4 |
| Jeurys Familia | 1.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.69 | 8 | 22 |
| Jerry Blevins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.90 | 1 | 6 |
| Jim Henderson, W (2-2) | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 2 | 12 |
| Team Totals | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 6.55 | 50 | 214 |
Recap
Sep 22, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (13) hits a walk off three run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the 11th inning at Citi Field. The Mets won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
With RHP Seth Lugo starting the game, Curtis Granderson gave him a 2-0 lead with a home run off the right field foul pole in the bottom of the second against LHP Adam Morgan.
The Phillies got one back in the top of the fourth after a leadoff triple by Cesar Hernandez and a groundout by Roman Quinn.
The Mets couldn’t tack anything on in their bottom half, and the lead changed quickly in the fifth. Ryan Howard tied the game with a solo shot, followed by a 3-2 deficit-inducing homer by Cameron Rupp.
The Mets immediately responded. Though Alejandro De Aza struck out swinging, Ty Kelly took a walk. Jose Reyes brought the stands to their feet but it died in deep center field. Asdrubal Cabrera singled him over to second, and Kelly took third on a subsequent wild pitch with Cespedes up. Low and behold, he tied the game with a single.
The Mets went to the bullpen in the top of the sixth, with LHP Sean Gilmartin, RHP Erik Goeddel, and RHP Fernando Salas pitching a clean two innings.
In the bottom of the seventh with two out, Jose Reyes took a walk, moving to third on Cabrera’s following single. That brought up Yo, the three of them seeming to be the offensive formula in the last six weeks of the season. Yo Yo’d to give the Mets a 4-3 lead.
RHP Addison Reed took is usual spot in the eighth, but didn’t have his best stuff. A leadoff single, a sac bunt, and another single made it runners on the corners for Maikel Franco. The impressive young player silenced Mets fans with a 3-run home run to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead. After a walk, Robles was brought in to bail Addison out.
After a quiet bottom of the eighth for the Mets, Robles and LHP Josh Edgin combined to keep the Phillies off the board in the ninth. The Phillies brought in Jeanmar Gomez to try to close things out.
Brandon Nimmo hit a pinch hit single to lead off the ninth, bringing up Jay Bruce to attempt for his first big moment as a Met. It didn’t happen, but a swinging strikeout did. That brought up Jose Reyes, who was locked in for the at bat. Boom.
The Mets couldn’t finish it off that inning, but certainly woke the crowd up.
RHP Jeurys Familia had clean tenth inning and in the bottom half, Lucas Duda, relegated to pinch-hitting duties since his return from the DL, almost did the unthinkable.
Alas, it went foul, and the Mets would play another inning.
Familia did not have it in the eleventh, giving up a leadoff double to Freddy Galvis. Though he struck Aaron Altherr out, Galvis moved over to third on a groundout from Tommy Joseph. They intentionally walked Cesar Hernandez to get to A.J. Ellis, but that backfired and he burned us again as he did back in August against Robles. The single made it 7-6 and Familia was replaced by LHP Jerry Blevins.
Blevins walked the only batter he faced to load the bases, and RHP Jim Henderson was relegated to mop-up duty. He walked a batter too, making it 8-6 Phillies, but was able to get the last out of the inning.
Brandon Nimmo unfortunately grounded out to start the bottom half, but Michael Conforto took and walk before Jose Reyes singled. Asdrubal Cabrera stepped up to the plate, ever so hot since coming off the DL in August. With a multi-hit game already in his pocket, he put the frosting on the cake with a drive to the right field field level party seats.
The Mets were glorious victors, a batflip for the ages ingrained in our cranium for all time. The home run brought the Mets to 81-72, they kept pace with the Giants who won, and took a game lead over the Cardinals, who lost.
MVP(S)
Sep 22, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets third baseman Jose Reyes (7) reacts after hitting a two run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the ninth inning at Citi Field. The Mets won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 22, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (13) reacts after hitting a walk off three run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the 11th inning at Citi Field. The Mets won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes.
The two combined to go 5 for 11 with five RBI and 4 runs scored. There home runs are classics. Need I say more?
Unsung Hero
Sep 22, 2016; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets leftfielder Yoenis Cespedes (56) hits an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fifth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Yoenis was responsible for both the tying run and the go-ahead run before Jose and the Assman did their thing. He went 3 for 4 with two RBI and a walk on the night.
Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose
The Assman
Next: Top 10 Mets teams of all-time
Thanks for counting down the Top 10 wins of 2016 with us! HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET’S! GO! METS!
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