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Reliever Jorge López embarrassed Mets and himself, but his situation deserves empathy, not scorn

Related Topics: New York Mets, Manny Gómez

The empty hurt clearly lingered in Jorge López's eyes.

The 31-year-old pitcher stood to address the media fresh off the most embarrassing experience of his MLB career: An unhinged, glove-throwing tantrum on the field. An hour after the outburst, López, unshowered and unchanged in his white home Mets uniform, was still very much someone in distress. The raw emotion, a sense of unsteady unease, remained pasted on his face.

Earlier that afternoon, López, pitching for the ever-calamitous New York Mets, surrendered a back-breaking eighth-inning homer to Dodgers designated hitter and two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani.