New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler watched the World Baseball Classic warily this spring. Of course, he knew there were inherent risks for his squad.
And on March 16, as he sat in his spring training apartment with Catherine Eppler, his wife, he tried to mentally steer Edwin Diaz around the potholes of possibility from afar.
Eppler followed Diaz's pitch count and tracked the outs remaining for Diaz, and when Diaz closed out a win for Puerto Rico, Eppler felt relief.
He got up and walked into another room. Catherine lingered in front of the television to watch the Puerto Rico celebration, and she called to her husband in alarm. «He's still on the ground,» she reported, and once Eppler saw Diaz at the feet of teammates, in a heap, he immediately dialed his phone, desperate for information.