Lennon: K-Rod has always been emotional, but this time it's different

Francisco Rodriguez's scraggly beard is a new look this season, and in seeking to find a connection between the unruly facial hair and his resurgence as the Mets' closer, he was asked Wednesday about the bushy growth.

The first question: What's up with the beard?

To make his fiancee mad, Rodriguez said. "That's the real reason. She hates it."

Fair enough. K-Rod was even smiling when he said it, and the exchange would have been quickly forgotten - if not for what happened after the Mets' 6-2 loss to the Rockies that night.

About seven hours later, Rodriguez was involved in an alleged scuffle with the 53-year-old father of his fiancee, in the Mets' family room, and charged with third-degree assault. The case took a turn for the worse yesterday during Rodriguez's arraignment when the prosecution cited a "history of violence" and described the family as being "very concerned" about him returning home.

As a result, the judge also issued an order of protection against K-Rod to stay away from his fiancee and her father, a troubling development that surfaced after Rodriguez's teammates had left Citi Field.

The Mets know that Rodriguez is combustible, and channeling that emotion - in a productive fashion - is a reason why he's one of the game's best closers. While K-Rod's postgame celebrations often infuriate other teams, it's dismissed by the Mets, who have to protect one of their own.

"He has a temper," Carlos Beltran said. "That's the way he is."

But Rodriguez has taken that a few steps further during his 1½-year stay with the Mets. In June of last season, he confronted the former Yankee Brian Bruney - now with the Mets' Triple-A Buffalo affiliate - in leftfield and had to be restrained during batting practice before a Subway Series game.

The next month, Rodriguez blew up at former front-office executive Tony Bernazard on the team bus and the two nearly came to blows during the altercation. This season, back in May, K-Rod had a heated confrontation with bullpen coach Randy Niemann with eyewitnesses saying they needed to be pulled apart in the middle of a game.

Again, that was easily shrugged off by the Mets, who were all too eager to placate their $37-million closer. But Rodriguez is in much different territory now, with the potential for greater damage to everybody involved, and the Mets began to show cracks Thursday in their support of him.

"I know everybody has family issues," Beltran said. "But family issues should be handled at home - not at the ballpark or where you work. I'm sure he knows that, but he just exploded in that situation. You have to control yourself, but people just react. Once you do that, you have to deal with the consequences."

Beltran was upset because his own wife, Jessica, was in the family room during the K-Rod incident and she was shaken by it. The Mets did what they could Thursday by placing K-Rod on the restricted list, which amounts to unpaid leave for two days, but a team official said they would not seek to void his contract according to any morals clause.

No, the Mets are stuck with K-Rod, and he's likely to remain their problem through the 2011 season, unless they choose to shop him this winter. It figures that Rodriguez was having his best stretch as a Met leading up to Wednesday's ugly episode.

K-Rod had thrown 91/3 scoreless innings over a span of eight games with four saves and one win. He also struck out 10 and allowed just one hit and one walk. That's the K-Rod the Mets had dreamed of when they signed him in 2008 - only now they're getting the nightmare as well. Unfortunately, it's all part of the package with Rodriguez.

"I'm unpredictable," K-Rod said Wednesday afternoon. "I may one day have a beard, and the next day shave it. You never know what I'm going to do."

Later that night, however, the Mets discovered just what Rodriguez is capable of, and now it's impossible to calculate the extent of the fallout.