50 Years in Cards: 2006

Part 45 of our 50-year Big Ticket Free Agent...

What is it: 2006 Topps #520, Carlos Beltran

What makes it interesting: After a few years of designs that were bad, boring or both, Topps came back with one of their better efforts in '06. If it wasn't already obvious, I like a nice, clean, clear design, and this set does it all, and it's a good thing they did because after the stink bombs of '04 and '05, they appeared headed into short-attention span hell.

I've often used these "50 Years in Cards" pieces to run down the Mets career of the player depicted on the card. That's not going to change, but I feel there's more that can be said about Carlos Beltran than simply reciting his numbers and the moments he had with the Mets.

Carlos Beltran is easily the best Center Fielder the Mets ever had, and without a doubt one of the best players in team history. He was in the top 10 of the "50 Greatest Mets" program and the starting CF of the 50th Anniversary team. Yet many Mets fans appear, unfairly, to remember him for watching an essentially unhittable curveball that just nicked the strike zone to end the 2006 season. The Mets have never fully recovered from this loss, but the reason for that was never Carlos Beltran.

From the moment he arrived with the Mets in 2005, Beltran drew criticism for being a mostly soft-spoken person who played the game with such grace and ease and stoicism, one might have had the impression that he was a little complacent. Not so. Though he had a poor year in 2005, he played through a leg injury and also got banged up pretty good in an ugly outfield collision with Mike Cameron in San Diego. Perhaps his somewhat stormy relationship with the fans started here, because he was a frequent target of boos that season, but come 2006, he turned into the player that the Mets hoped they had brought in with that big contract. On a team that had plenty of star power, Beltran might not have been the matinee idol that David Wright was, or the sparkplug that Jose Reyes was, or hit the monster home runs like Carlos Delgado, but what he did do was bring them all together and carry the team all season long. In addition to hitting 2 Walk off Home Runs, Beltran hit 3 Grand slams in a month and set a team record for runs scored that year. In the playoffs, Beltran proved once again that he was at his best when the lights were brightest. He almost singlehandedly won Game 1 of the Cardinals series, cutting off a Cardinals rally with a key assist and driving in the only 2 runs of the game with a majestic Home Run. His two Home Runs in Game 4 aided the Mets to a blowout victory. He hit, and he hit consistently, and without him in the lineup, there would never have been a Game 7 for him to end.

The subsequent seasons ended rather poorly for the Mets, we all know that, but if there was a constant, it was that Carlos Beltran would shut up, hit the ball, and get dumped on for that damn strikeout. Beltran followed up his elite 2006 seasons with performances in 2007 and 2008 that were every bit as good, and produced hits that were often of the clutch variety. Down the Stretch in '07, with the Mets fading fast, Beltran injured both his legs making a game-saving catch in a game in Florida. True to form, Beltran shut up and got himself out there the next day. In 2008, Beltran started slow, but got hot in midseason and didn't slow down, even when many other Mets continued to crumble around him. As usual, his big hits were often of the variety that more often than not saved the Mets asses. He produced the final Walk-off hit at Shea Stadium, a screaming single against the Cubs that nearly tore the 1st Baseman's glove off. And on that miserable Sunday, Beltran was the only Met who bothered to show up offensively, hitting the final Mets Home Run at Shea Stadium, driving in the only runs they would score.

By this point, I'd already begun to grow tired of how under-appreciated Beltran was, and 2009 seemed to underscore my point of just how valuable he was to the Mets. Beltran got off to a roaring start that year, and  appeared to be a serious MVP contender. But he went down with a knee injury that was probably mishandled by the brilliant Mets training staff. The Mets had already lost several players, but losing Beltran was too much to overcome. The Mets ultimately went in the tank. But although he didn't have to, Beltran came back in September and played out the remainder of the season. Beltran's knee ultimately needed surgery, which resulted in a somewhat nasty feud between the Mets and Beltran, but after 2009, who could have blamed Beltran for not wanting to listen to the team doctors? In 2010, the Mets overachieved somewhat without Beltran, and then fell apart when he returned. Of course, Beltran took some heat for the Mets slump, but looking at it realistically (and combined with the performance of the Mets in 2011 and 2012), the Mets just weren't that good to begin with. Beltran would ultimately be traded in July, 2011, and few seemed to care. One of the best players in team history was gone, and nobody seemed to be too broken up about it. Not two months later, Beltran's old number 15 was slapped on the back of hideous journeyman Valentino Pascucci.

In his 6 and a half years with the Mets, Beltran hit .280, with 149 Home Runs and 559 RBIs. He walked 449 times and scored 551 runs. These are great numbers! The Mets had probably the Best Center Fielder of the time in his prime, and he was great for several years. But he could never live down that stupid strikeout, and that was a damn shame. Beltran returned to Citi Field in 2012 with the St. Louis Cardinals and received a lukewarm response. But he made one more meaningful contributuon to the Mets that night, hitting a ground ball that was just foul, keeping a hit off the board on the night Johan Santana threw the First No Hitter in Mets History.

Card back:

Re-Return

There hasn't been much fanfare surrounding Carlos Beltran's return to Citi Field tonight, or at least not nearly as much as there was when Jose Reyes came back in April. I haven't heard anything about video tributes or whatever the Mets feel like doing for him. But I suppose it makes sense.

Looking back on what was an outstanding Met career, I can't help but feel like Carlos Beltran was really some kind of outside mercenary. He never felt like he was truly "our guy," sort of like the way a Wright or Reyes or Piazza was. We rooted for him. I always pulled for him hard, because for the majority of his tenure with the Mets, he was probably the best guy they put out there on a day-to-day basis. When he was good, which was often, he was great. He could carry the team for stretches if he needed to. There were stretches where it felt like he was the only player on the team who decided to show up for the game. He had great, shining moments. He also had some failures that came in rather glaring moments. He had his share of controversy, whether he deserved it or not. Such is the life of a star player in New York.

It's unfortunate, I think, that Beltran is remembered for the things he's remembered for, particularly his lousy season in '05, his sniping with management over his knee injury in '09, and, of course, that one perfect curveball that he didn't swing at. Many Mets fans I've spoken with also seem to have the sentiment that Beltran never really wanted to be a Met,  he wanted to be a Yankee, but the Yankees never made him an offer. This may be true, but he could have said "no" to the Mets in '05. It was an important signing for the Mets to be able to make, and although it never resulted in a Pennant or a World Series Championship, without Beltran on the team, the teams in '06, '07 and '08 probably don't get as far as they did. People got on Beltran for looking like he didn't care or wasn't trying very hard, or because he didn't say very much to the press, and I can't believe that to be true. Beltran just played the game with such a natural fluidity that maybe one might make that mistake. I can't look at any moment he had in his 6 and a half years with the Mets and think of an instance where it appeared he wasn't trying. I don't think there are too many players on the team over that time that you can say that about.

Unlike Reyes, there wasn't the big "will he stay or won't he stay" question. His departure last July was more or less a foregone conclusion, since it was clear the Mets weren't going to re-sign him, and so they were wise to get what they could for him (and Zack Wheeler looks rather good to this point). So, then, Mets fans shouldn't feel quite as jilted as they do about Jose Reyes. The Mets probably felt he was on the downside of his career, and it appeared most other teams did too, since it took a while for him to get any kind of contract offer. But with the Cardinals, of all teams, Beltran seems to have had a bit of a renaissance this season. He's returning to New York in the midst of one of those classic Beltran hot streaks that we saw so often. I really don't know how the fans will react to his return tonight. Hopefully, he'll get some appreciative cheers, which is what I would do if I were in attendance. More than likely, though, I feel like he'll get booed. He deserves better treatment. Unfortunately, he couldn't ever live the negative stuff down with most Mets fans. Hopefully, people will wise up, prove me wrong, and give the man his due for a standout 6+ years with the Mets.

Moron Team Strikes Again

Everything else has already been said, but I have several questions for the Mets.

1) Why do you need to have a Press Conference every time something happens within the organization?

2) Why do you need to pick a fight with the best player on your team?

3) What is the certification of your "medical staff"?

4) Why aren't you as concerned about fielding a winning team as you are about spin?

5) Why, as fans, should we have anything positive to feel about going into the upcoming season?

I'm beginning to think that the story about the Mets this upcoming season is going to have very little to do with what goes on on the field. It's going to be mere scenery up against these clowns in the front office.

Nobody really wants to see Fred or Jeff or Omar or John Ricco or whoever. They need to realize that nobody is particularly interested in anything they have to say. I'm going to channel the words of the man who coaches my favorite team in another sport, because it's the bottom line, and nothing else matters.

I. WANT. WINNERS.

It's a shame the front office doesn't share this sentiment.

Waking Up

After a weekend that saw him produce a 5-RBI game and a 3-RBI game, it may be that time of year where Carlos Beltran begins to go on one of his hot streaks.

About damn time.

After a rainout on Friday night, which drew the ire of some indignant fans who like to scream and yell on WFAN, the Mets and Reds staged one of my most favorite Baseball Traditions on Saturday: The Day-Night Doubleheader.

In the afternoon half of this mockery, the Mets put up 12 runs, backing Johan Santana, who clearly didn't have his best stuff. This meant that, after Wednesday's game in LA, the Mets had back-to-back games in which they scored 12 runs. Now that's news! News enough that Santana, who didn't look especially dominant in allowing 3 runs on 10 hits, really didn't have to break much of a sweat, as the Mets charged ahead and really didn't look back. Beltran came up in a pair of RISP situations and responded with a 2-run single and a 3-run triple, hits sorely missing from his, and the Mets repertoire across the board. Carlos Delgado added a cosmetic HR and Schneider hit his first of the season, and at that particular moment, you had to be thinking sweep. The Reds are awful, they have no pitching, and the Mets are finally starting to hit.

So of course, the Mets go out and shit the bed in the nightcap. Bronson Arroyo, he of an ERA over 7, comes out and shuts the Mets down. 12 runs one game, 1 run the next. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 Mets.

Sunday could very well have been redemption day for the Mets. Oliver Perez wasn't outstanding, and he wasn't overpowering. But he was a hell of a lot better than he had been lately. Perez generally has been the victim of one really putrid inning that snowballs out of control, and yesterday, he ran into trouble in the 6th inning, allowing 3 runs. But by that time, Beltran and Ryan Church had already hit HRs off of screaming Reds Rookie Johnny Cueto (shades of Jose Lima?) and the Mets held a 6-0 lead, which they were able to salt away even before the Reds managed to bat out of order in a thoroughly comical scene.

So, I don't know what's next for the Mets. Today does not look like a particularly good day for Baseball, although after Friday, it appears that the Mets will wait as long as possible to call a game. Which means that we'll get people who call WFAN that went to the game, actually thinking it would be played, and scream about how it's all Freddie's fault and indignantly shouting "I WILL NEVER GO TO ANOTHER METS GAME AGAIN!"

Yeah, that's right. Get mad! That's how you affect change. Hit that 6-run HR.

Spare me, folks. Just remember, if you don't go, someone else will.

Washington in town this week, which means that the Mets will probably split a 4-game series (assuming all 4 are played). The rotation is jumbled after the rainout. Another rainout might fix it. And the Yankees are coming up over the weekend (It's interleague play already???)

INVADERS!

Opening Day is more than a month away, but things are already starting to get interesting.

Jimmy Rollins arrived in Phillies camp this week and wasted no time in firing back at Carlos Beltran and the Mets, and the war of words that has begun to erupt between these two teams.

Beltran's comment about the Mets being the team to beat obviously didn't sit well with the defending MVP, who accused Beltran of plagiarism, before proclaiming that not only would the Phillies repeat as NL East Champions, but they would win 100 games in the process.

I've made my feelings about Steroid Field #2 (AKA Citizen's Bank Park) be known. The Phillies might score like a 100-win team, but will they pitch like one? I'm inclined to think not, unless Freddy Garcia somehow morphs into, well, Johan Santana. Don't think that's happening.

But this sort of brashness out of Rollins? No, never.

It stands to be 19 very, very interesting games between these two teams that don't seem to like each other very much.

19 interesting games between two teams whose fans seem to like each other even less than the teams do.

While the war of words begun between players, a turf war of sorts has broken out between the rival factions, and it's starting to get pretty ugly pretty fast.

On Wednesday, Metsblog beseeched Mets fans to buy up tickets at SF2 before the Phillies fans could get them, thereby flooding the joint with Mets fans. This is nothing new. Even at The Vet, Mets fans would raid the stadium in droves, driving down the Jersey Turnpike to catch the Mets on the road. When one, or both teams were horrible, not a rare occurrence, it was routine to hear "Lets Go Mets!" chants in Philly.

In fact, there's a campaign going already to flood SF2 with Mets fans for the nationally televised April 19th Game, among other dates the Mets will be in Philly.

Well, the Philly fans caught wind of this, and they're firing back themselves. In between taking pot shots at Beltran, the New York Times, and Shea Stadium itself, the folks at the 700 Level are planning a Shea Takeover of their own, on September 6th, another nationally televised affair. They've even got a Facebook page set up, with over 500 Philly fans raring to take over Shea and show us that they're tired of us invading their turf. How dare we show such support for our team in great numbers, while nobody in Philly bothers to come up here and mess with us.

Mets fans fire back by stating that the Phillies will just be battling Atlanta for 2nd place by then. Philly fans retort by saying look at what happened last year.

I've never been one to travel around to exotic places to see the Mets. Outside of a few games in the Bronx, I've never been to a Mets game outside of Shea. And I don't anticipate sojourning down to Philadelphia to see the Mets, where I'd likely be spat on, cursed at, dowsed with beer and be told 77 different ways about how the guys in the row behind me did my mother last night. At least they won't tell me to take my hat off during the National Anthem. Besides, my irrational anger would likely get the better of me, and I would run the risk of doing something stupid and getting myself thrown out of SF2. I'll stay in New York, where I have much more back, and what's besides the point, my schedule at the current time only allows me to get to see Philly during their first trip into New York (assuming I procure my seats for Opening Day, and my 7-pack seats for April 10).

But I digress. I'll take my chances watching the games in Philly either from the comfort of my own home, or from Ballclub HQ, East Village Bureau with a few Guinnesses (my days of dancing with Gin Martinis are over following an ill-advised incident at the end of last season). At least this way, should things turn bad, I can just order another beer to numb things out, yell at a cab driver and pass out.

To break up the tension, however, I can always count on the good people at the Tao of Stieb. Although the Blue Jays have put together an admirable squad, they're hopelessly stuck behind the Arms Race from Hell in the AL East, so rather than griping about it, they're praising the physiques of the talented Alex Rios and the lovely Jenny Lewis, and being challenged to eat raw bacon, all the while bashing their own idiotic PR staff for hawking tickets to Tigers and Red Sox fans. As if they didn't have enough problems already. Sorry, guys.

Yeah, this is getting pretty damn ugly. It should be a lot of fun.

Metsitude

After just a few days of camp being open, it's pretty clear that there is a different attitude around the Mets this year. Normally stoic and reserved, Carlos Beltran stepped to the forefront over the weekend, firing a salvo at Philadelphia normally expected from someone like Pedro Martinez.

"This year, tell Jimmy Rollins WE'RE the team to beat."

This quote served to let everyone around the Mets, and to the Phillies as well, know that it's on. The Mets haven't forgotten what went down at the end of last year, and with the acquisition of Santana, the Mets are determined to turn the page and deliver some payback to Philadelphia for a pair of indignant sweeps late last season. There was the killer instinct on Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins' quote last year raised the bar for them, and when the Mets let them hang around, the Phillies went and took it. They're the new Braves now. And as such, they're going to draw the ire of Mets fans. And we can expect similar treatment in Philadelphia, assuming their fans will fill their tiny little abomination of a ballpark, where even puny little Shane Victorini can pop HRs. "I don't care," Beltran says. "They boo me in Houston. One more city won't make a difference." But I digress. Bringing Santana to the Mets, a flawed team that nearly won its division last year, makes them the prohibitive favorite to win the Division once again. Philadelphia has made some nice little additions to their team, but they are also pinning a lot of hope on the return to dominance of Brad Lidge, the effectiveness of Freddy Garcia and one more year out of Jamie Moyer.

On the other side, Santana has not only bolstered the Mets rotation, he has also inspired his new teammates with a different type of confidence, a new attitude. We'll call it "Metsitude" for lack of a better word. It's been exuding from Mets camp ever since he showed up on Thursday. By Saturday, this new swagger had spread all the way to Beltran. Beltran has, in the past, been a reluctant poster boy for the team. In 2005, he was the man leading the New Mets, and he struggled. But blended in with Delgado, Wright and Reyes and he shined in '06 and was nearly as good in '07. In '08, he will now be counted on to make his words stand up. If the optimism of the last few days has been an indication, I wouldn't bet against it.

This team is Pissed. I like that in my Ballclub.

Of What Is and What Has Been Before

Presumably, all of us in Mets Nation are simply happy that the Mets were able to come away with the victory in a game that they seemed to have frittered away via some sloppy fielding and sloppy pitching on a sloppy night at Shea, where I can only imagine the crowd was far less than the 48-some odd-thousand that were announced, on an August evening cleverly disguised as an April evening.

But the events leading up to Luis Castillo's first Heroship in a Mets uniform seemed to take on the feel of a couple of games from years past, games not forgotten, and that produced some signature moments for a couple of great Mets, one whom is still writing his book with the team, and one whose place is cemented as, arguably, The Best.

I speak, specifically of a game played exactly one year ago, similarly on a Tuesday night in late August at Shea Stadium, and another game, played on a similarly chilly April night eight years ago. We are all familiar with the results. The setting remains the same and some of the names do as well.

On April 28th, 1999, the Mets blew a late game lead to the San Diego Padres, and entered the bottom of the 9th trailing 3-2, and, as per usual, into the game comes Trevor Hoffman to presumably close out the game. Instead, John Olerud led off with a single and Mike Piazza followed by ripping a Walkoff HR into the Mets bullpen to give the Mets a 4-3 victory. Because of Piazza's stature and the fact that the image of Piazza raising his fists and dropping his bat was an enduring image from that season (and adorns the cover of the 2000 Mets Yearbook), this is not a Lost Classic. This is just a Classic.

On August 22nd, 2006, the Mets fell behind to the St. Louis Cardinals and A-Poo by a 7-1 score. The victim of this deficit was John Maine. But a Carlos Delgado Grand Slam and a Jose Reyes RBI later, the lead was down to 7-6 going into the Bottom of the 9th, where, against Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen, Carlos Beltran smacked a 2-run HR into the Mets bullpen to give the Mets a steely 8-7 victory. Because this game was constantly re-played on SNY and because of how this game was typical of the kinds of ways the Mets could beat you in 2006, this is not a Lost Classic. This is also just a Classic.

And so, that brings us to Tuesday night. With John Maine on the mound, the Mets raced out to an early lead buoyed by the hot hitting of Carlos Beltran. But Maine tired in the 6th, and the Padres came back and eventually took the lead in the 7th. But the Mets would battle back, not once, but twice. First, it was Beltran once again driving home the tying run in the 8th. But the Mets would falter again as Wagner allowed a run in the 9th. And so the Mets entered the last of the 9th, and just as it was in 1999, there was Trevor Hoffman coming in.

And, just as it was in 1999, Hoffman could not hold the lead. First, it was Milledge coming up with the leadoff hit, then Mike DiFelice laying down the key sacrifice, and then Marlon Anderson, playing a role as key as he did back in yet another one of these wild victories back in 2005, coming up with the tying hit, and then scoring the winning run on Luis Castillo's hit two batters later.

Hoffman. Beltran. Maine. Anderson.

Mets lore is dotted with these names, and once again, they all emerged as key players in Tuesday night's victory. And in a mostly uneven season for the Mets, it's good to see them summon up the magic of a couple of memorable seasons where victories like this were commonplace, and years where, by season's end, every last victory would prove to be crucial. What remains in this season will tell us just how crucial this victory will be.

Regrettably, this was not a Ballclub night at Shea; most of the games we have attended have been on Tuesdays, it seems, however we are slated to be in attendance on Thursday, on what will be another anniversary of another kind that I will discuss tomorrow.