00:00It's July 31st, 2015.
00:03We're in Queens, where a game between the New York Mets
00:07and Washington Nationals remains tied
00:09in the bottom of the 12th inning.
00:12Nobody on, nobody out, Mets up looking for a walk-off.
00:17This is an important moment for the usual reasons,
00:20division rivalry and jockeying for first place.
00:23But it has a chance to be truly special
00:26on a totally different level
00:28because of this man at the plate.
00:30To understand why, we must rewind.
00:34This episode of Rewinder is presented by T-Mobile,
00:36America's largest 5G network.
00:39While it's not the main reason
00:41this city-field crowd is tingling right now,
00:44the race for the NL East depends on moments like this one.
00:49The Washington Nationals have won this division
00:51two of the last three seasons,
00:54and here they sit in first place today.
00:57The Mets hang just a couple games behind Washington,
01:00and tonight begins a three-game series
01:02wherein New York could close that gap.
01:05Whether that matches your expectations or not
01:08depends on when you formed those expectations.
01:12Before this season, expectations were tepid,
01:15but that changed.
01:17Tommy John surgery took Zach Wheeler out of commission,
01:21but gave back another pitcher, Matt Harvey,
01:23after he missed all of 2014.
01:26Plop a rehabilitated Harvey beside these guys,
01:30and you're looking at several viable aces, young and old.
01:34Jacob deGrom is just breaking out as a star,
01:36while Bartolo Colon is literally still a star in his 40s.
01:41That staff, with closer Jairus Famiglia sealing the deal,
01:44pitched the Mets into first place in April,
01:47including some big opening series victories in Washington,
01:50where Colon out-dueled Max Scherzer,
01:53and Harvey got a win against Steven Strasburg.
01:57These Mets won 11 straight at one point,
01:59and became the surprising talk of the majors.
02:03Even when those pitchers flagged somewhat,
02:05Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matts came up from the minors
02:08looking quite promising.
02:10The arms warrant faith.
02:13When the Mets fell back
02:14toward the mediocrity people expected,
02:16it was because of the offense.
02:18A lineup that's always been pocked with question marks
02:22only got flimsier.
02:24New York already needed production from some unproven bats,
02:27and then injuries made it worse.
02:30The Mets slumped, and when pressed to fix that offense,
02:33GM Sandy Alderson called the media citizens of panic city,
02:38which some people did not like.
02:41That was late June, and one had to wonder
02:44if New York was just packing it in
02:46and giving up on the season.
02:48Only recently did the Mets front office make it very clear
02:51that would not be the case.
02:53On July 24th, they went out and got some helpful bats,
02:57Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe.
02:59A couple days ago, the Mets got some pitching help
03:02by trading for Tyler Klippert.
03:04And today was the big one.
03:06Before this game, the Mets went out
03:08and made a deal for start outfielder, Yohannes Cespedes.
03:12He'll arrive to help fight the Nats tomorrow.
03:15So the Mets are going for it.
03:17They're not giving up.
03:19They've made moves.
03:20They're still trying to win the NL East.
03:22That's the big picture.
03:27And that's what's at stake in this moment
03:29against the division leader.
03:30But it's not what people are feeling right now.
03:34The emotion palpable in this stadium
03:36is something more intimate.
03:38It's all about the move the Mets didn't make.
03:42The man at the plate right now with a chance to start
03:46or even finish a Mets rally is Wilmer Flores.
03:50Right now, his presence and his opportunity
03:53feel bigger than the big picture.
03:55Wilmer wasn't supposed to be here.
03:59He has been here a while in the Mets system, that is.
04:03Wilmer was born in Venezuela.
04:05And at this point, I feel like I have to tell you,
04:08he has two brothers who are also named Wilmer.
04:11Anyway, our Wilmer signed with the Mets organization
04:14on the day he turned 16.
04:17Their scouts had never seen a kid
04:19that skinny hit that hard.
04:22Opponents in the minor leagues found the same thing.
04:24Wilmer couldn't see an R-rated movie without a guardian,
04:27but he was ranking.
04:30This 09 New York Times piece tells of a team
04:33intentionally walking Flores with runners
04:35on first and second.
04:37Those stories and some impressive stats
04:40amounted to a high and sometimes even tip-top ranking
04:43among the most touted Mets prospects
04:45when Flores was still a teenager.
04:48Flores logged a lot of reps in the minors,
04:51long enough for his ranking to lag a bit
04:53and then pick right back up.
04:55Finally, on the day he turned 22,
04:58Flores debuted for the big league Mets
05:00and stuck around to spell the injured David Wright
05:03at third base.
05:04It went, eh.
05:06The bat didn't pop, the glove didn't perform
05:09at basically any position Flores tried.
05:12Last season, Flores got a surprise
05:14early season fill-in start
05:16and then got more opportunities later in the year
05:18when the Mets were totally out of contention.
05:21He looked better overall, better enough
05:23that at the beginning of this important 2015 campaign,
05:27Wilmer was named the opening day shortstop,
05:30even with doubts lingering about his defense.
05:33It's been a long, long road,
05:36but Wilmer Flores finally got to be
05:38an everyday Met this season,
05:39and he demonstrated enough of that power potential
05:43that some offered his assent as a reason
05:46the Mets hadn't made a big trade entering June.
05:49Obviously, that last thing changed this month.
05:52The Mets pushed in their chips,
05:54and Flores, it turned out, was a chip.
05:58To improve their chances,
06:00and I guess satisfy those residents of Panic City,
06:03the Mets pursued the biggest bats on the trade block.
06:07They quickly zeroed in on Carlos Gomez,
06:10the aging but still powerful star
06:12languishing on the awful Milwaukee Brewers.
06:16Milwaukee was going nowhere
06:17and prepared to deal Gomez for younger players,
06:20but they wouldn't accept
06:21only the injured Zach Wheeler in return.
06:24They wanted Flores, and on the evening of July 29th,
06:28the Mets said, fine, he's yours.
06:32Just one thing, on the evening of July 29th,
06:35two nights ago, the Mets were right here
06:37in the middle of a game against the Padres.
06:41Wilmer was playing shortstop.
06:42Neither he nor Mets manager Terry Collins
06:45had been alerted to the trade talks,
06:47nor the deal being verbally finalized mid-game.
06:51Someone else spilled the beans, though.
06:53At 8.57 p.m., Joel Sherman of The Post
06:57reported that the Mets got Gomez.
06:59A few minutes later,
07:01the whole internet knew Flores was in that deal.
07:04And then, a few minutes after that, in the seventh inning,
07:08Flores stepped to the plate.
07:10Every fan in attendance
07:11who was checking Twitter between innings,
07:14which is to say absolutely everyone,
07:16knew Flores was a goner,
07:18but Wilmer himself had no idea,
07:21and he was flabbergasted when he got a standing ovation.
07:25Only when Wilmer returned to the dugout
07:27did he realize why that happened.
07:29But still, as far as Terry Collins knew,
07:32nothing was official,
07:33so Flores went back out on the field to play shortstop,
07:36and that's when the dam burst.
07:39These were the tears of a guy, still only 23,
07:43who had been part of the same organization
07:45since he was a child,
07:46living far away from his home,
07:48working year after year toward this very opportunity.
07:53In an instant, without warning,
07:55he had to move halfway across the country and start fresh,
07:58on an awful team, no less.
08:01So many athletes in so many sports
08:04have experienced this moment before.
08:06Trades are cruel like that.
08:09Very few, though, have had their emotional response
08:12witnessed and documented in the middle of a game.
08:16Finally, the Mets front office called the dugout
08:18and told Collins to pull Flores in the ninth inning.
08:22Milwaukee execs wondered what the player
08:24they had just acquired was still doing out there
08:26to begin with.
08:27Except the deal wasn't done, not technically.
08:32While going over Carlos Gomez's medicals,
08:34the Mets doctors saw something that spooked them.
08:38Gomez has had some leg injuries this year,
08:40but insisted yesterday that he's fine, sexy, in fact.
08:45Didn't matter.
08:46The Mets scrapped the entire deal,
08:49and at game's end, Flores, along with the rest of the world,
08:52found out he was, in fact,
08:54not getting traded for Carlos Gomez.
08:57Of course, that didn't mean he would remain a Met for good.
09:00Yesterday, Flores and his manager
09:02recalled that surreal scene on the field.
09:05Flores explained his emotions quite simply.
09:08Collins defended his decision
09:10to leave Flores out there at greater length,
09:12insisting he had no idea there was a trade
09:15and placing some blame on everyone's cell phones.
09:18But the trade deadline wasn't until 4 p.m. on July 31st.
09:22That is today.
09:24Just a few hours ago, the Mets went out
09:26and made that other big deal for Cespedes,
09:29and it didn't include Flores.
09:32Wilmer Flores is, after clearly believing he wouldn't be
09:36and showing the whole world how he felt about that,
09:39a New York Met.
09:42And now he's up for them in a really big moment.
09:46It would be so, so sweet if he could deliver right here.
09:49But make no mistake, Wilmer does not need a walk-off tonight
09:53to become a fan favorite.
09:54He is already there.
09:56It's not like Wilmer Flores wanted to weep openly
09:59in front of thousands of people,
10:01but if anything could endear someone
10:03to the long-suffering fans of a downtrodden team,
10:06it was that outpouring of emotion
10:08that took place here two days ago.
10:11Tonight was the fans' chance to return that emotion,
10:14and Wilmer has given them ample opportunity
10:16to express themselves.
10:18Almost instantly, in fact.
10:20Flores is covering second base tonight,
10:23and the third pitch of the game produced this hard-hit ball
10:26that required the sick diving play for an out at first.
10:30It's a great play, but you don't usually hear
10:32this kind of crowd pop for infield defense.
10:36That's a fine play.
10:38Nor do people usually give standing ovations
10:41in the top of the first inning.
10:43But that is how completely Wilmer Flores
10:45has won the hearts of Mets fans.
10:48For simply making his first plate appearance,
10:50Wilmer got another standing ovation.
10:53This was beautiful.
11:00Later on, Wilmer came up with runners on first and second,
11:03and he drove one in with a grounder just out of reach.
11:06This place went nuts.
11:08Here comes Uribe with the first run of the game!
11:17So tonight has already been magical
11:19for Wilmer Flores and his adoring fans.
11:23The Mets would love a walk-off here.
11:26They're all in on this season,
11:27as evidenced by the moves they made this month
11:30and this very afternoon.
11:31Some wins off the first place Nats
11:33would represent huge strides in their quest
11:36to win the NL East and maybe beyond.
11:39On paper, that's what's at stake here,
11:41and it doesn't have to be Wilmer.
11:44And on paper, it won't be.
11:46The announcers just noted, sorta tongue-in-cheek,
11:50that he's gone a while without a homer.
12:00And that is fine.
12:01The Mets just need someone, anyone,
12:04to pull them ahead at some point.
12:06Wilmer just needs to get on base to do his job.
12:08He doesn't have to be the one
12:09to end the whole thing right here.
12:12But man, if it is Wilmer,
12:14if this young man who has been part of this organization
12:17since basically childhood,
12:19who has ascended and struggled and grappled
12:22with the pain of leaving in front of the only fan base
12:24he's ever known as a pro,
12:26if he could make it happen,
12:28then an already magical night
12:30might become something historic.
12:34Let's see.
12:35Welcome to a moment in history.
12:40Flores drives it, deep left center field,
12:42Taylor back, near the wall, it's out of here!
12:46Flores ends it with a homerun!
12:49Wilmer Flores night at Citi Field
12:51comes to a fitting close
12:53and the Mets win it 2-1 in 12.
