When Juan Lagares was taken out of the game today, most Mets fans had a major issue with that and with good reason.

Yet as you can see below, with Kirk Nieuwenhuis now in CF, the Mets defense hasn’t taken the anticipated step back.

Who needs Juan Lagares when you have Krik Nieuwenhuis? lol #Mets http://t.co/2J2TTcqqr4 — #JuanLagaresIsJesus (@MetsKevin11) August 7, 2014

Like I said before, who needs Juan Lagares when you have KIRK Nieuwenhuis? #Mets http://t.co/YOleNa2B5z — #JuanLagaresIsJesus (@MetsKevin11) August 7, 2014

Juan Lagares is the best defensive Center Fielder in the National League (or in all of baseball) but at least on this day (his birthday) Kirk did one heck of an impression.