"Four months ago, after a numbing 1-0 Mets loss to Washington, Billy Wagner lashed out in the clubhouse at teammates who, in his mind, had been too quick to depart after the game.

In his expletive-laced comments, Wagner did not cite anyone by name. But he seemed, by the direction of his gestures, to be singling out the empty locker of Carlos Delgado, who had been playing dismally and who had indeed dressed and left without speaking to reporters. It was an emblematic moment of what was shaping up as a sour season and a month later, with the Mets still playing lackluster baseball, Willie Randolph was out as the manager.

A lot has happened to the Mets since then, and to Delgado and Wagner, and little of it could have been foreseen. Under Jerry Manuel, the Mets are now atop the National League East, trying to hold off Philadelphia, the team that embarrassed them in 2007. Delgado has dramatically rebounded to become the team's most formidable hitter and a somewhat improbable candidate for National League Most Valuable Player honors. In his third season with the Mets, he is also finally assuming a more active role as a team spokesman and seems certain to be back with the club in 2009.

But Wagner, a 37-year-old closer, has probably thrown his final pitch as a Met, and perhaps as a major leaguer. The Mets announced Monday that Wagner would need season-ending reconstructive surgery on his left elbow to repair his medial collateral ligament and flexor pronator muscle. With one season left on Wagner's four-year, $43 million deal with the Mets, and with the recovery period expected to last a full year, the Mets will now move on without him.

In Wagner's absence, the Mets have gone 22-10 by employing an ever-increasing hodgepodge of relievers. Still, despite his struggles this season - his seven blown saves were already a career high - Wagner was clearly the team's best reliever, and Monday's announcement made the Mets' postseason quest a little more precarious."