Opening Day is special. If Francisco Rodriguez gets the opportunity to close today’s game for the Mets against the Marlins at Citi Field, he deserves an ovation just for making it to the mound.
If the Mets win and K-Rod points to the sky, you know he will be thinking about his brother Leandro.
The closer returned to the Mets yesterday from Venezuela and explained in detail the horrific accident his two brothers were in last week.
“It’s going to take time, we’ll see what’s going to happen,” K-Rod said of Leandro’s injuries.
Five people were in the Chevy Truck, K-Rod said, including two of his brothers, Erik, 24 and Leandro, 21. They were making a 10-hour trip from Caracas to Apure.
“In the middle of the trip, the driver got tired and wanted to stop,” Rodriguez explained. “He told my brother he wanted to stop and my brother [Erik] said, ‘I’m OK, I can drive, give me the car.’ Five minutes later he fell asleep and [the truck] went off the road and down a hill.”
Rodriguez said four of the five occupants were thrown from the vehicle as it rolled over several times.
“They weren’t wearing seat belts,” he explained. Erik was trapped inside.
“They broke the window and got him out, and five minutes later the [truck] exploded.”
Four of the men suffered injuries. The accident occurred around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.
“They sat by the road for four hours until somebody came by and picked them up and took them to the hospital,” K-Rod said. “That’s when I found out about the accident.
“He’s pretty bad right now,” Rodriguez said of Leandro, who was in the front passenger seat.
“He has two broken legs, broken hips, broken arm, broken ribs, ankle, and knee. The other brother has a broken arm. The driver has a broken neck, a couple disks. The other has a concussion.”
Rodriguez said Leandro had a transfusion and was scheduled to undergo more surgery yesterday.
“He’s stabilized, but he’s still critical,” he explained. Erik is at their grandmother’s house. The two other men remain in the hospital.
“Accidents are part of life, but you never want to see your brothers involved in it,” Rodriguez said.
“When I see him four, five weeks ago, totally healthy and you go back and see him with a bunch of IVs and scars and scratches, you don’t feel good. You realize how important your family is. It’s been traumatic for both sides — my family, their family. But that’s what it is. We have to take it and move on.”
Rodriguez always has been able to separate personal life from baseball, but admitted this is going to be difficult.
“Sometimes your mind is going to be over there, and your body is here,” he explained. “But I’ve got to find a way to wipe it out and to make sure to concentrate when it’s time to do my job, and when I get off the field, make sure they are fine.”
Rodriguez thought about staying in Venezuela, but noted, “I’ve got a big responsibility here, too.”
The Mets have said all spring they are a much closer team, and this is an example of that. K-Rod’s family also told him he should return to New York to do his job.
“I know this is going to be difficult,” Rodriguez said.
“When my time comes, I will be focused 100 percent on what I am doing. This is not going to be a distraction, because I know my brothers are doing a lot better, not as bad as when I saw them four days ago. I’ve been through a lot of bad moments in my life. This is one of them, a bump in the road. You have to go through it.”
Rodriguez will go through it in front of a sold-out crowd at Citi Field. He’s ready for the challenge, but he could use your cheers and prayers.