More important then baseball.....Feliciano

Remember last week when the Brewers visited Shea and during the opening game everybody was either worried that Pedro Feliciano was hurt or screaming at Willie for not using him. The reason for such clamouring was how consistent and good a reliever Feliciano has been. In the last two years Feliciano has become one of the best relievers on the team, he has expanded his role from a half inning LOOGY complimenting Chad Bradford to a guy you'd trust with a one run lead as a set-up man in the eighth. It was later said that Feliciano was late getting to the stadium due to a flight delay which was a result of him returning home due to a family issue.

There was a reason, far removed from baseball strategy, why Pedro Feliciano did not see action in Tuesday's home opener, even with the rest of the Mets bullpen crumbling around him. Feliciano had traveled home to Puerto Rico on Monday to deal with what he called "family issues," and a canceled flight prevented him from making it back to Queens on time to pitch in the middle innings. source MLB.com

There was no further elaboration, nor did there need to be beyond "family issues". But Feliciano revealed during the off-season that he has a child with a very serious condition. While I hope I'm wrong reasonable deduction would tell me that he returned home for something involving his daughter.

One-third of infants born with CHD develop life-threatening symptoms within the first few days of life. The mortality rate in those cases is as high as 90%. "I know that everyone was very upset about what happened at the end of the season with (the Mets)," Feliciano says. "But this was my little daughter, and when something happens like this, it changes how you think about everything." source Daily News 12/25/07

Whatever the reason for the trip home and whether it's a coincidence or not, Feliciano hasn't been the same since he returned. In 3.1 innings (since Apr. 8) he has allowed five hits and six walks ( seven strike outs) while allowing one earned run and two inherited runs. I know when my kids were little if they were sick the last thing I wanted to do was leave them and go to work. If he is distracted the Mets should show some compassion and let him go take care of his family. As much as we all yell and scream over "our team" in the bigger picture of things this is just a game. Pedro maybe to proud to say a word about whats going on, it might be up the Mets to notice that their once dominant lefty is now struggling since returning from taking care of a "family issue". The last thing the organization should do is treat this like a business situation and worry about who would replace him, good business is to take care of your employees and send him home on leave.

Well with that said, I hope everything is just fine at home and this is just a bad stretch for him (baseball wise). But after reading the article again about his daughter my prays go out to him and his family......