Tag: Carlos Beltran
Mets Beltran Won’t Slide And I Don’t Care
Within a five day span we’ve seen two examples of Carlos Beltran not sliding on plays that he clearly should have. You know what? I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me at all. The simple fact is that when you’re the best position player on the team with the highest payroll in the league you can make judgment calls.
On April 21st Beltran didn’t slide against the St. Louis Cardinals on a play at home. He stepped on Yadier Molina‘s foot and was tagged out. It was a bizarre play that Cards third baseman Joe Thurston made a great hustle play and throw on.
Yesterday Beltran didn’t slide on a steal attempt at second base because he thought that he heard David Wright hit the ball. He slowed up and was tagged out on the throw. Of course, the crowd boo’d him. He admitted after the game that he should have slid.
I’ve heard some people talking about how this is a bad influence on the younger players on the Mets. If any of the younger players on the Mets think that they’re the best position player on the team they should feel free to make judgement calls that are afforded to veterans like Beltran.
Of course, I’d like to see Beltran show the fire and go all out that everyone else wants from him. That’s not the way he is and I’ve accepted that along with his .406 batting average, outstanding defense, and 1.067 OPS. He’s kind of a soft player, not the kind that we like in New York. But he’s also an excellent player, maybe not one of the great ones, but very good.
Frankly, if he can avoid taking a few hits along the way this season he may be able to stay healthy enough to play 161 games like he did last season. That’s no small feat by the way. I’d rather see Beltran playing nearly every game this season than worry about one play and whether he slid or not.
In case you haven’t noticed, Carlos Beltran isn’t the problem with this Mets team. If you feel compelled to boo the home team, make note of every starting pitcher not named Johan Santana. Make sure that you notice Daniel Murphy stumbling around left field like a little leaguer and David Wright‘s .371 slugging percentage. Those are the problems with this team not Carlos Beltran.
Mets 8- Nationals 2 April 25, 2009
Mike Pelfrey had a pretty good game returning from forearm tendinitis and a missed start. He went 5.2 innings giving up 2 runs. What I didn’t like about his start was the 3 walks and 1 strikeout. But he did have almost all groundball outs which is signature Pelfrey. So it was a bit of a mixed bag in this start.
The Nationals are horrible defensively. They had 3 errors today after looking bad in the field last night as well. This team really needs a complete makeover. What a disaster.
Carlos Beltran kept up his hot hitting today going 3 for 5 and upping his season average to .415. Ryan Church was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI’s.
Cardinals 12- Mets 8 April 23, 2009
The final score actually wasn’t indicative of the beating that the Cardinals handed the Mets today to complete the 3-game sweep. Livan Hernandez was bad again and this game was over by the sixth inning. The Mets starting pitchers, beside Johan Santana, have an ERA over 7. That’s all that you need to know about the Mets current four game losing streak.
Albert Pujols hit two homers today for the Cardinals. Ryan Church and Carlos Beltran hit meaningless homers in garbage time for the Mets as well. Beltran’s average is up to .404 for the season.
The Mets go home and hope to get right against the Washington Nationals.
Cardinals 5- Mets 2 April 22, 2009
Starting pitching was the name of this game. John Maine wasn’t very good again and Joel Piniero was excellent. Piniero got into the ninth inning before being pulled after David Wright‘s leadoff double. He ended up giving up only six hits and two runs.
Maine walked five and gave up seven hits over 5.2 innings. And he very well could have been pulled before that. He had runners on in almost every inning. His velocity looks good but his control was terrible.
The only bright spot of the game was Carlos Beltran was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. His average is up to .385 for the season.
The Mets are down 0-2 in this three game series and try to avoid the sweep tomorrow.
Brewers 4 Mets 2 April 19,2009
The Mets blew a quality start by Nelson Figueroa by not hitting, again, with runners in scoring position. They were 2 for 13 in the game and are now hitting .236 as a team with RISP through the first 12 games of the season.
The Mets couldn’t do anything with Carlos Beltran and Gary Sheffield on with no outs in the seventh inning. Fernando Tatis struck out and Omir Santos lined into a double play to end the threat. There’s been some criticism of Jerry Manuel’s decision not to sacrifice the runner’s around with Tatis’ spot in the lineup. But I like having Tatis hit with a runner in scoring position versus a sacrifice. He hit .392 with RISP in 74 at-bats last season so I like those odds.
The Mets win 2 for 3 from the Brewers in the series but their season record drops to 6-6.
Marlins Edge Mets 2-1 April 12, 2009
- Image via Wikipedia
Johan Santana was good, but Josh Johnson was better. Santana threw 7 innings of 3- hit ball with 13 K’s and 1 walk, only giving up 2 runs. Johnson threw a complete game and nearly shut out the Mets. That’s how you beat Johan Santana.
Johnson nearly blew it in the ninth inning, giving up an RBI single to Carlos Beltran. He had the tying run on base but not in scoring position while managing to hang on and get the win.
The Mets lose the series to the Marlins 2-1 and go home to open Citi Field tomorrow night.
The Mets Report 