Francisco Rodriguez

Decimated By Injuries, Poor Play and Lack Of Depth But Somehow Still Alive

Omar Minaya can continue to preach to the media about his club 'having the chips' to swing a major deal in the next few weeks to revive his fluttering franchise.

The reality is - he doesn't. The rest of baseball is awaiting his futile call. The price for any player worth his salt will be astronomical.  The reason?  Other teams know the Mets are in trouble and will bend them over a barrel in any type of trade.

Yesterday, before the Yankees walloped the Mets (very nice, I like), there was a bit of a tussle in the outfield. As anybody who cares knows, the confrontation was the culmination of two whiny jocks pretending to be tough.

Brian Bruney lambasted Fransisco Rodriguez for his excessive celebration on the mound. I agree that the excessive celebration (I'm looking at you Joba, Papelbon etc.) has got to go, but take it to him on the field.

Calling K-Rod out in an interview is cowardly and a desperate cry for attention.

New York Mets' closer Francisco Rodriguez, better known as "K-Rod", blew his first save of the season on Friday night against the New York Yankees.

K-Rod should have earned the save, however, as Luis Castillo dropped a potential game-ending pop-up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. This error allowed two unearned runs to score, which gave the Yankees the win.

On Saturday, Yankees relief pitcher Brian Bruney, currently rehabbing in Double-A Trenton, was asked about K-Rod's blown save and the Yankees improbable victory.

At this juncture, there are not many of us that would trade places with Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

His team has been decimated by freak injuries and lingering illnesses to the point where they are out of major league-level players. The lineup these days looks like one out of an early March split-squad game.

Add Francisco Rodriguez to the list of decommissioned Mets—however temporarily.

The closer left Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park with back spasms. He collapsed and was sent to the hospital.

This is starting to get ridiculous. One of the guys who seemed impervious to pain, K-Rod just broke down.

It remains a heated debate. If Billy Wagner had stayed healthy in 2008, are the Mets the team winning the division, winning the World Series, and spending the next four months bashing their division rivals?

While it is all speculation and hypothetical, there is valid evidence to support that had Billy Wagner kept his arm intact, the Mets would have proceeded to win the NL East. That aspect of the question remains plausible.

On Sept. 13, 2008, Rodriguez broke Bobby Thigpen's saves record for a single season with 58. The following day, I jumped onto YouTube to watch a video of the record-breaking moment and couldn't help but look at some of the comments people had written.

Many of the comments were along the lines of, "K-Rod is the best closer in Major League Baseball." As a huge Joe Nathan fan, I was a little ticked off. I rattled in my head a number of players who I thought were better, such as: Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, Brad Lidge, and Joakim Soria.