Originally Posted by Gregory Gewirtz

Outside of Mariano Rivera and Jon Papelbon, how many closers are there over the last decade who have had a good enough multi-year stretch of success, complete with "clutch" showings, that you'd want them closing for you in a big spot? Joe Nathan and Francisco Rodriguez are probably in the mix, IMO. Billy Wagner's still probably the best of the next tier of basically solid closers who have had their share of awful stretches, sometimes when it mattered.

I'm not trying to excuse Wagner, but I don't think iffy closers are a Mets-specific problem.