SAN DIEGO -- Piece by piece, an All-Star Game that promised to be all about the 2015 National League pennant-winning Mets began scattering in other directions. Over the span of three innings last week, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard both suffered injuries, knocking them out of the Midsummer Classic. That still left the Mets with a stocked charter flight to San Diego, where Jeurys Familia was to serve as the NL's closer, Bartolo Colon as its emergency innings-eater.
But things did not quite work out that way. NL manager Terry Collins, who was ready to use his players as needed in the 2016 All-Star Game presented by MasterCard at Petco Park, simply never needed to. And so the Mets, who technically had four All-Stars, in addition to Collins and his entire coaching staff, wound up leaving San Diego without stamping much of a mark on the NL's 4-2 defeat.
"We had some health issues and we knew that," Collins said. "[Cespedes] would have been a nice piece to have. But the other guys, they were available. We had it set up to when we were going to use them, and we just didn't get to get there."
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The one Met with a chance to play a significant role in the game was Familia, whose perfect first half -- he was 31-for-31 in save chances -- prompted Collins to name him the NL's closer. But when the later innings arrived with the team facing a two-run deficit, Collins turned to Fernando Rodney, then Kenley Jansen in the eighth. Familia never did anything beyond some light tossing in the bullpen.
Afterward, he refused comment through a team spokesman. Syndergaard also declined to discuss his All-Star experience. When Collins learned of this, he walked over to Familia's locker to speak privately with him in the postgame clubhouse, prompting Familia to change his mind.

"I'm not disappointed," the closer eventually said. "We didn't have the lead in the ninth. [Collins] told me before we got here if it was a save situation or tied in the ninth, I was going to pitch."
That never happened. So the world was unable to see Familia, a first-time All-Star. Fans could not watch Colon, either, though he and Collins had agreed to that beforehand. Syndergaard, who is battling arm fatigue, gave away his spot on the active roster before ever arriving in San Diego. And Cespedes chose not to take part in All-Star festivities at all.

They were notable absences for a Mets team that had not had multiple All-Stars since 2013, and had not had a contingent of this size since 2009. But in the All-Star Game's immediate aftermath, the Mets chose to overlook the fact that they themselves were overlooked.
"I'm not the only person that didn't participate today," Familia said. "I'm not disappointed for that."