LOS ANGELES -- A little more than two months have passed since the Mets enjoyed that magical final week of July, when they dried Wilmer Flores' tears and provided Yoenis Cespedes a stage to almost instantly enter any discussion concerning the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Somewhere within the eventful final eight days of July, the Mets evolved from a team seemingly destined for a .500 record to the one that will begin battling the Dodgers in the National League Division Series on Friday night (6:30 p.m. ET on TBS).
Though the non-waiver Trade Deadline acquisition of Cespedes and aggressive promotion of Michael Conforto highlighted those days leading into August, Mets manager Terry Collins recognizes the July 24 acquisition of Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe from the Braves as the move that significantly influenced all else that went well for his club down the stretch.