Remembering Mets History (2016) New Mets Second Baseman Neil Walker Blasts 8 April HRs

Neil Walker came to New York from Pittsburgh in the 2015-2016 off season in a trade for pitcher Jonathon Niese & to replace Daniel Murphy at second base. The Mets knew they were getting an upgrade defensively but had no idea that Walker would have the hot start he did, making everyone forget about a guy named Daniel Murphy, for the time being.

April 5th 2016 Kansas City: After the Mets dropped their first game of the season in a hauntingly familiar place, Kansas City where the last season had ended as the Royals celebrated their World Series victory, the second game was important to come out of with a win. 

Noah Syndergaard, probably the most hated pitcher on the Mets staff in Kansas City, continued where he left off in last years World Series. Thor shut out the Royals for six innings striking out nine. Jim Henderson, Addison Reed & Jeurys Familia contributed with scoreless, hitless innings as well.

One of the newest Mets, second baseman Neil Walker did all the damage hitting a two run HR off Chris Young in the 4th inning, sealing the Mets 2-0 win.

Friday April 15th Cleveland: The Mets went on to Cleveland to play Terry Francona's Indians in an interleague matchup. On the mound for New York was 42 year old Bartolo Colon who had started out his career with Cleveland almost two decades ago (1997). Tonight Bart would pitch into the 6th inning earning his first win of the season.

The Mets got four long balls on the night from Michael Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes, Alejandro DeAza & Neil Walker all going yard in the Mets 6-5 win.

Saturday April 16th Cleveland: The next day in a 4:00 PM start the Mets took a hard 7-5 loss as Matt Harvey fell to 0-3 on the season. The Mets continued to hit the long ball, as Curtis Granderson got his first of the season, Yoenis Cespedes hit his third & Neil Walker hit his third of the season, an 8th inning solo shot.

Monday April 18th Philadelphia: The Mets continued on their successful road trip, taking the first game of a three game set in Philadelphia. Noah Syndergaard earned his second win of the year (2-0) pitching seven innings while allowing just a run with eight more strike outs.

In this game Neil Walkers' slugging continued as he blasted his fourth HR of the year, going back to back with Lucas Duda's solo shot. The Mets hit four HRs on the night, as David Wright had a multi-HR games, hitting his first two of the season in the Mets 5-2 win.

Tuesday April 19th -Philadelphia: This was a classic Mets blowout, as spot starter Logan Verrett completely shut down the Phillies in six innings & the bullpen Jim Henderson, Rafael Montero, then Hansel Robles did the mop up. The Mets offense exploded for eleven runs on twelve hits while hitting six HRs.

In the 6th inning, the Mets were ahead 5-0 after HRs from Michael Conforto & Yoenis Cespedes. With one out Neil Walker stepped up & hit his fifth HR of the short season making it 6-0 Mets. 

In the 7th Lucas Duda connected for his second of the year & Walker followed with another back to back performance. Walkers sixth of the year as the Mets rolled.

Saturday April 23rd -Atlanta: The Mets continued rolling along as they would win seven of nine on this road trip setting a record for most HRs in franchise history in a weeks span. 

In this game, the Mets would support Steven Matz in his second win (2-1) as they hit two more HRs. 

In the top of the 9th, with New York up 5-2, Neil Walker led off with a solo HR off Ryan Weber, for his seventh HR of the season. Asdrubal Cabrerra went back-to-back with his first HR as Met.

Monday April 25th Citi Field: The Mets returned home after the successful early season road trip to host the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets got a 1st inning solo shot from Michael Conforto but the Reds came back. The Mets then got a two run blast from Lucas Duda going ahead 3-1 but once again the Reds came back. 

In the bottom of the 8th with the score tied, Neil Walker blasted a two run HR off JC Ramirez that put the Mets ahead for good 5-3.

Wednesday April 27th Citi Field: Tonight the Mets swept the Reds series winning their sixth
straight game with Matt Harvey earning his second straight win as well. 

In the bottom of the 1st, Neil Walker's RBI single put the Mets ahead 2-1. In the home 3rd, he hit a one out solo HR off Jon Moscot for his ninth HR of the month.

Mets HR Trivia: The Nine HRs tied a franchise record for the month of April matching Dave Kingman (1976) Carlos Delgado (2006) & John Buck (2013).

Personally for Walker the nine HRs & 19 RBIs were bests for any April in his career.

At the end of August, Walker went down with a season ending injury which certainly hurt the Mets in the post season. Walker still finished the season with 23 HRs, third most for a Mets second baseman in franchise history. Edgardo Alfonzo holds the first two spots of that mark.