#Wilmer Flores’ emotional 48 hours culminated with the ultimate feel-good Mets win

It was a new day and a new series for Wilmer Flores and the Mets on July 31, 2015.

A three-game mangling at the hands of the Padres was over and done with, and so was the non-waiver trade deadline. For Flores, the latter was an emotional weight that was on display for all to see just 48 hours earlier, as reports surfaced mid-game that he was to be traded from the organization he had been a part of since he was 16.

Cameras focused on the then-23-year-old as he took the field in the top of the eighth of the eventual 7-3 loss to San Diego, capturing every sniffle and streaming tear he couldn’t hold back from the thought of leaving the team.

But Flores finished out the July 29 game and the series with the Padres still a member of the New York Mets.

It was only appropriate that when Flores stepped up to the plate to lead off in the bottom of the 12th inning of a one-all game with the Nationals that he sent the ball soaring. As if the burden lifted off his shoulders made his swing effortless and the ball weightless.

Flores slammed a walk-off home run to left-center at Citi Field, securing a 2-1 victory for the Mets.

“That,” Mets right fielder Michael Cuddyer said, “is one of the best walk-off homers I’ve ever seen.”

Coming around first base and thrusting his fist into the air, Flores let out an emphatic celebration that was a clear culmination of a nerve-racking handful of days. The Mets dugout erupted and the players poured out onto the field to greet Flores at home base.

Flores chucked his helmet to the side as he headed down the third-base line, grabbing at his Mets jersey and banging it against his chest. His teammates swallowed him up and jumped around him.

“I couldn’t be happier,” a loss-for-words Flores said. “I didn’t anticipate that.”

At that point, everyone at Citi Field had forgotten that the Mets neglected to activate their newest acquisition, Yoenis Cespedes, whom they had traded two minor league pitchers to the Detroit Tigers for that very day. It was the donning of a new age for the Mets, with Cespedes, Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe and Tyler Clippard headlining the new look.

However, there was nothing that could dull Flores’ shine under the Citi Field lights that night. He had already lost most of his shortstop reps to Ruben Tejada and was fighting for time at second or third base.

But in that moment, Flores was still a Met.

“Can it happen at a better time to a better person in a bigger situation than that?” then-manager Terry Collins said. “We are all so thrilled for him.”