<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" The Mets have a long history of closers who couldn&amp;#039;t close. Until the bottom of the ninth inning in Kansas City on Tuesday night, Jeurys Familia had largely staved off this affliction.  The 6&amp;#039;\u00A04&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Dominican man-child has spent most of the year loosening the bowels of opposing batters with a high-90s sinker and a mid-90s split-fingered fastball that might be the most unhittable pitch in baseball.  But being a closer, especially one as dominant as Familia, is an almost cruel fate. It is taken for granted that you will\u00A0get the most difficult three outs in a baseball game. Your successes are largely ephemeral, your failures indelible. Familia is essentially a prisoner to his prodigious talent.  So when Familia got a little too cute with Royals left fielder Alex Gordon, quick-pitching a 97-mph\u00A0sinker that didn&amp;#039;t sink,\u00A0which Gordon deposited 430 feet into dead center to send the game into extra innings,\u00A0I didn&amp;#039;t chuck the remote across the room or unleash a torrent of obscenities like I had at previous Mets firemen-turned-arsonists. I just felt for the guy.  Familia isn&amp;#039;t some hardened, battle-tested, fire-breathing demon sent to Earth to devour the opposition. He&amp;#039;s a 26-year-old kid from Yaguate, Dominican Republic, who began the year third in the closing pecking order behind his pal Jenrry Mejia and veteran Bobby Parnell. Had Mejia not been busted (twice!) for taking PEDs, Familia would be nestled comfortably in a far more insulated role as an overqualified setup man.  Instead, Familia became arguably the team&amp;#039;s regular season MVP, and his run of postseason dominance\u201310 scoreless innings and five saves before the Gordon homer\u2013drew wholly unfair comparisons to the early playoff success of Mariano Rivera, only the greatest closer of all time.  In his postgame comments, Familia did not make excuses, nor did he beat himself up. He is already well-versed in the closer clich\u00E9: &amp;quot;I understand the game. I can make mistakes. Anyone can make mistakes. Tomorrow is a new day.&amp;quot;  Alas, baseball fans know the real truth\u2013the only solvent for the stain of a blown World Series save is to bounce back and win the whole damn thing. Nick Powell is the opinion editor at City &amp;amp;amp; State magazine. Follow him on Twitter\u00A0@nickpowellbkny. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/a39223/mets-closer-jeurys-familia/>