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Mets Insider: NL champions have spring in their step

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Yoenis Cespedes strikes out and goes 0-for-3 but still hears cheers.Jeff Roberson/AP

Yoenis Cespedes strikes out and goes 0-for-3 but still hears cheers.

PORT ST. LUCIE — There was just a small banner painted on the press box wall and another flag near the American flag out on the berm proclaiming the Mets 2015 National League champs, but Tradition Field felt very different Friday.

Going to the World Series last year meant a lot more fans in the seats for the Grapefruit League home opener Friday and a different vibe that reverberated into the clubhouse.

“Outstanding,” starting pitcher Logan Verrett said of the atmosphere. “We took the field and you hear ‘the National League champions,’ the crowd roaring, that’s pretty neat.

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“It translated into the clubhouse,” Verrett continued. “The atmosphere in here, there is an energy and everybody feels it. The work ethic is just astronomical. Everybody’s on board.”

In the first chance they had to publicly express their joy at the Mets’ re-signing Yoenis Cespedes, the full house gave him a raucous ovation — a few fans were even standing — when he came to the plate in the first inning. He even got cheers for his groundout in that at-bat. Cespedes finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout as the Mets settled for a 4-4 tie with the Marlins.

Lucas Duda, one of the goats from the Mets’ World Series loss, made an error and heard boos and heckling, but that was an aberration. New shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera got a bit of a honeymoon when he attempted to backhand a ground ball and it went under his glove and into left field.

It was so different that it wasn’t just the Mets who noticed.

“I was lucky enough to pitch in Citi Field last year when they were in the middle of the playoff race and it was the same kind of atmosphere,” Marlins starter Justin Nicolino said. “This is stuff you live for and you enjoy that.”

BACKING IT UP
A day after Daniel Murphy acknowledged the Mets did not offer him a contract because they see Dilson Herrera as their second baseman of the future, the 22-year-old went out and made everyone excited about that.

Herrera hit an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to prevent the Mets from starting spring training 0-2.

“He’s gonna be a good player, we all know that,” Terry Collins said. “He’s got a high, high ceiling, especially offensively. He’s got big power. He’s hitting better, getting better around the bag at second base. He just needs to play.

“That ball tonight, that’s a home run,” the Mets manager continued. “Inside-the-park or not, that ball without the wind blowing is way out. He’s just got to get himself to continue to play and keep getting better.”

Herrera finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI.

TURN TWO
The Mets’ new middle infielders turned their first double play Friday. In the first, Neil Walker fielded Christian Yelich’s groundball and fed to Asdrubal Cabrera to get Marcell Ozuna at second, and then the Mets shortstop turned and fired to get Yelich at first.

It’s part of a feeling-out process between Walker and Cabrera, who have never played together before. Cabrera said it went fine and called Walker a “great second baseman.”

Walker said it was good for them to work at game-speed.

“Simple things like peeking over to see where he may be in hitters counts and two-strike counts, those are the things you can’t really learn on the backfields,” Walker said of the in-game work.

They are also learning MLB’s new rules regarding neighborhood plays and slides at second base.

“I can’t say I like them or dislike them that much, we haven’t seen the rules enforced yet,” Walker said. “From the early going it’s definitely in the back of our mind though. Just knowing if you don’t hang onto that bag an extra second that guy might be safe.”

DOTS ALL FOLKS
Lefty Jerry Blevins said it “felt good to be a pitcher again,” after throwing an inning. Blevins had not pitched in a game since last April, when he suffered a fractured forearm. He refractured the arm during his rehab when he slipped off a curb in Port St. Lucie. … Jim Henderson, the 33-year-old right-hander whom the Mets signed to a minor league deal, threw a clean inning with two strikeouts.

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