3 freak Mets injuries that we will never forget

The New York Mets have had their fair share of bad luck throughout their franchise history and I'm sure every die-hard Mets fan has at least one top-ten list of unfortunate events that have beleaguered this franchise. I wanted to highlight three of the most freak injuries that the Mets have experienced in their franchise history.

Unfortunately, Edwin Diaz was the latest victim recently of the Mets' bad fortunes after fully tearing his patellar tendon in his right knee after celebrating Puerto Rico's victory over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. While this injury is still fairly new and we don't know the long-term implications of the injury we will leave it off this list.

However, there are three other freak injuries I'd like to highlight that no Mets fan could've seen coming and has pretty much summed up this franchise's luck over the last 61 years.

1) NY Mets freak injury: Duaner Sanchez's taxi ride

How could any Mets fan forget the infamous taxi ride in the early morning hours of July, 31st 2006 when Mets reliever Duaner Sanchez ended up in a cab that was sideswiped by a drunk driver in a Crown Ford Victoria on I-95 near the team's hotel in Hollywood, Florida. Sanchez was in the midst of a career year with the Mets and had become a vital piece of their bullpen prior to the accident occurring.

At the time, Sanchez had a 2.60 ERA over 49 appearances and had been a bridge to Mets closer Billy Wagner. Ultimately Sanchez's right shoulder was separated by the accident and he underwent surgery within 24 hours back in New York City after being flown home by the team. Luckily for the Mets injury had happened at the Trade Deadline and they made a trade for pitchers Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez in exchange for outfielder Xavier Nady.

Unfortunately, the Mets' season seemed to be affected by Sanchez's absence due to the Mets missing his electric arm out of the bullpen in the later innings of games. The accident seemed to affect the team and I believe the Mets trading Nady who was having a decent season at the time (.264 with 14 homers and 40 RBI in 75 games) was a bad move made out of desperation.

Duaner Sanchez also was never the same after the injury as his shoulder ultimately weakened and he was out of Major League baseball by 2009 at the age of 29.