As tends to happen when someone’s bad behavior is made public–just think back to all the Tiger Woods stuff for the most recent prominent example in sports–stories about Francisco Rodriguez being a bad guy are coming out of the woodwork now.
Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record passes along this gem about Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera:
Rodriguez’s reputation was damaged even before joining the Mets. On the eve of the 2008 All-Star Game at the Stadium, Mariano Rivera ordered clubhouse attendants to keep K-Rod’s locker as far away as possible. The Yankee closer, a deeply religious man, decided he couldn’t stand even one night of K-Rod’s excesses.
Klapisch goes on to chide the Mets for not reigning in Rodriguez earlier, suggesting that their lack of control over the closer “in part, is why Rodriguez went off on a family member on Wednesday, because somewhere in his consciousness he knew he could get away with it.”
That seems like one hell of a leap in logic to me, although certainly making the Mets responsible for his beating up a 53-year-old man is a great way to sell newspapers and given how dysfunctional the whole team has been few people are going to stick up for them no matter the claims.
