There's probably no more fitting epitaph for the way the Mets played during their series with the Yankees at Citi Field than Francisco Rodriguez walking Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded in the ninth inning on Sunday night. Three nights of doing everything in their power to make sure the Yankees swept the series capped off by their star closer walking a hitter with two career at-bats in the regular season to force in an insurance run. Yeah, it fits.
That's the thing about the Mets' season. For all of the very justifiable hand-wringing about all their injuries, they've created an unbelievable amount of bad luck for themselves. They've lost games by missing third base and dropping pop-ups, they play defense with hands of stone and brains of mush and lose games more often than they get beaten.
This weekend might have elicited a few laughs if it wasn't for the avalanche of evidence that preceded it to the hearts and minds of Mets fans. Three errors in one inning on Friday night and Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis turning a one-run first into a three run rally on Sunday. Sandwiched in between was a one-hitter, the only loss that you could fully blame on the injuries and shorthanded Mets lineup without ignoring the fact that major league players should still make routine plays.
K-Rod has been mostly immune to the flailings of his teammates, but he hopped right into the pool on Sunday night. It was bizarre to see the aggressive closer seemingly afraid to throw strikes to an American League closer. It didn't directly affect the outcome, but it was another moment to make you wonder why the Mets always have to make things so complicated. Despite what "Bull Durham" says, it isn't the simplest of games but it's usually a lot easier than the Mets make it look.
You'd love to say they got it all out of their system this weekend. But even if you said it, you wouldn't believe it, so what good does that do for anyone?
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
