The postseason woes continued for Mets closer Jeurys Familia, who dished up the deciding three-run homer that would end the Mets season and allow Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants to advance to the NLDS.
This comes a year after blowing three saves in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.
Familia inherited a scoreless tie, but quickly got into trouble after allowing a leadoff double to Brandon Crawford and then a critical one-out walk to Joe Panik who had been struggling mightily of late.
That brought up third baseman Conor Gillaspie, who then crushed a 1-1 sinker over the right-center field fence to give the Giants a 3-0 lead which Bumgarner would protect as the Mets went down in order to end the game.
“It’s not my first time playing in the major leagues, playing baseball,” said Familia who took the loss. “I know those things are going to happen sometimes.”
“Every time I go out there, I try to do the best I can. After that, I can’t control what happens. I try to move forward. We didn’t make it this year. I’ll try to keep working hard to try to get there next year again.”
After the game, concerns could be heard everywhere from Mets fans and media alike, as many questioned whether Familia had what it takes to get it done in the postseason.
Comparisons were made to Armando Benitez by some, the former Mets closer who could do it all in the regular season, but seemed to always fail in a big spot.
Manager, Terry Collins advised after the game of how disappointed his closer was. “Familia is really down, but we wouldn’t be here without him,” Collins said.
“He was the guy I wanted out there in the ninth inning and we’ll try to do a better job to make sure he’s a little more rested going into the postseason.”
Familia saved an MLB-leading 51 games during the regular season, but unfortunately it came crashing down for him last night as the Mets saw their 2016 season come to a bittersweet end.
