The lefthanded hitting outfielder was unaware after the game that he had tied a record achieved only by a Hall of Famer for the Mets.
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Manager Terry Collins added: “He said he was OK and I thought he could hit and at least he had a little feel for the game”. “It tires him out a little bit”. That was awfully nice of him to play golf to deflect a few of the criticism from Cespedes! Prior to that, on September 30, Cespedes came out of a game against the Phillies after suffering two bruised fingers on his left hand, hit by a Justin De Fratus fastball.
“I talked to him [Saturday] night after the game was over and I asked him if his shoulder was bothering and he said no”, Collins said regarding Cespedes’ left shoulder that required a cortisone shot after the NLCS victory. The team is all for it.
Cespedes, though, seems to be a good indicator of how his team goes. “I just forget any problem that I have, anything that’s troubling me, and I just worry about what’s at hand and enjoy it”.
As for Cespedes, he’s already been pretty banged up throughout this postseason.
The Astros found that out, as did the Blue Jays.
Cespedes is more than a casual golfer. But it turns out, he’s not the only Mets player hitting the links during the Fall Classic. “His power as far as driving the ball, hitting the ball up, is incredible”. His playing partners since August have included Niese and reliever Tyler Clippard, among others. “You’ve got to make pitches and you’ve got to get outs when you have the opportunity”. “If he got lessons on his drive, he could be on the PGA Tour”. I’ll always remember the feeling on those two home runs. If his approach shots are as precise as his throws to home plate, he must give himself easy birdie putts. But the Mets don’t merely tolerate Cespedes’s hobby. But it does nothing for the kinds of finesse shots a golfer needs to shoot in the 70s.
Conforto was such a good football player – a running back as a sophomore, a triple-option quarterback as a junior and senior, and a safety all three years – that Pluschke said, “He could have played strong safety for any college in our area”. Former OSU all-American Jacoby Ellsbury won two World Series rings with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and 2013, but he never homered in a Series game.
Conforto became the second Mets player to have a two-homer World Series game, joining Gary Carter, who hit two in Game 4 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets’ clean-up hitter needs to get back on track.
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Time (and money) will tell if he’ll get another chance.
