Memories of Carlos Beltran

[Guest themetfairy]

He played through pain so bravely that people forgot just what a warrior he was. From the Mike Cameron crash to his balky knee issues, he put his heart and soul on the field for us.

And I'll miss hearing Eres Aqui. Whenever I hear it on a Mets Classics broadcast, it'll be bittersweet.

Thank you Carlos for all that you gave us.

[Ceetar]

game 1 NLCS, 2-run bomb accounting for the only runs.

[TransMonk]

My two favorite regular season games in 2006 were both Carlos walk-off home runs.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200605230.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200608220.shtml

That was one of the best single offensive seasons I've seen in my Met watching history.

He was under-appreciated while he was here and should go down as one of the all-time greats to wear the orange and blue.

[bmfc1]

I'm with Transmonk. I thought of those two. And his slide last night on the sac fly. I was cursing Bay for not hitting it far enough and somehow Carlos beat throw and the tag. A final great act as a Met.

[G-Fafif]

[youtube:x16p9cux]IpYC1aZEq5M[/youtube:x16p9cux]

[G-Fafif]

Last home run ever at Shea Stadium.

Last good one, anyway.

[G-Fafif]

The three homers in Colorado.

The answer slide in Philadelphia last September.

Being smart enough to not take the Mets' doctors' word for anything.

The reluctant curtain call early in 2006.

The catch on Tal's Hill. His face taking on the bullpen fence there, too.

Climbing the fence to take away a homer against the Cardinals on a Sunday afternoon in 2008 while a bird flew by.

The mole. Seriously, what a mole.

And what a player.

[metirish]

That 2006 season , pretty special. I'll remember him as part of the whole Los Mets thing, which I liked.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The boos on opening day 2006. That and the pre-emptive cries for Miguel Cairo to displace Kaz Matsui really let on what a disgustingly gross percentage of the Mets fanbase were really Yankee fans in disguise, slumming in Flushing because they couldn't afford the Bronx.

I loved his work going back on balls, as best exemplified on Tal's hill in Houston, and I loved how he turned on high pitches. I love how he took the shit about visiting Walter Read with aplomb while I would have gone a little crazy. I love how he loved me.

He's my new all-time 15.

[Met Hunter]

That's not a mole. I call it the Cocoa Puff.

[Guest attgig]

screw the mets docs, he's going to get his knee fixed.
opening day 2007 - perfect strike to lo duca - http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?mid=200704021874399&vid=7758&gid=2007/04/01/nynmlb-slnmlb-1&v=2&id=547085&w=2007/open/tp/archive04/040107_nynsln_beltran_def_tp_350.wmv
the collision... wow. how you come back from that... crazy.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The home run against the Braves that helped the Mets win for the first time in 2005.

The next 6 years are a blur.

[dgwphotography]

Frankly, he was the best center fielder the mets ever had.

[metsmarathon]

if only all ballplayers were as soft as carlos.

[Guest Edgy DC]

"If Beltran is soft, give me more soft players."

--- Centerfield, 2009

[Frayed Knot]

I like that even though the trade isn't official yet, and that Giants are starting a series in Cincinnati on Friday, Carlos has already jumped a plane to Philly so he can help his new team kick their asses tomorrow afternoon.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Vanis takee, Carlos!

I don't know if it's at all likely, but I'm hoping to see you back in Port St. Lucie next February.

[Gwreck]

Most of the best memories were already covered above but let's not forget going 3-3 with 4 runs scored and 2 homers in the critical game 5 of the NLCS.

Greg made a reference to it but Beltran's catch on July 27, 2008 in the midst of a complete game Santana victory was my second-favorite defensive play by Carlos. Link to video can be found here.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: "If Beltran is soft, give me more soft players." --- Centerfield, 2009

metsmarathon wrote: if only all ballplayers were as soft as carlos.

Forget, for a minute, the "best centerfielder" thing (though he was). Forget "best all-around Met ever" (though he may have been).

Forget Lenny, Wally, and all the dirt-on-the-uniform types. Hell, forget Bad Dude, even. What we have (or had) in Carlos Beltran-- playing almost from the moment he put on the stripes with cartilage-free knees, and playing damn well, and making nary a peep about it (except to make awkward trash talk and/or boring copy)-- is probably the toughest, grittiest Met there ever was or will be.

[Ceetar]

It's close, 44 more games with the Mets and he was better, if slight, with the Mets, but Beltran will always be a Met first, and that includes if he one day ends up in the Hall of Fame.

He's almost definitely going to become only the 8th player _ever_ to be a 300/300 player (5 HR, 8 SB) and he's got the best stolen base percentage _ever_. And he's a Met.

[MFS62]

The best all around centerfielder to play for the Mets. (Not counting Mays who was past his prime as a Met.)
Good guy, very good player.
I'll miss him.

Later

[Fman99]

Julio Franco prodding his ass out of the dugout in 2006 for a curtain call after that early season HR.

Fare thee well, Carlos. Loved watching this guy hit, run down balls in center field, and make it all look stupid easy, like he was in a sandlot game against a bunch of moes.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I got to see him his a grand slam in Detroit last month! That was pretty exciting.

[HahnSolo]

The two defensive plays in Houston: the extra-inning catch on the hill; and the running into the wall play in 06. That one hampered him down the stretch. His 2006 is probably the best offensive season in Met history...his numbers would have been even more through the roof if he was 100% that final month.

[Centerfield]

Too many to run down in one post, hell even one thread.

Is it too early to re-sign him? I mean, do we technically have to wait until the season is over?

[metirish]

Did he die or just get traded?

[Ceetar]

tedquarters.net has a bunch of clips up.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

His 2006 season was, give or take, the best I've ever seen out of a Met (Reyes is doing the same sort of thing this year).

I thought he had the best batting eye I'd seen since Olerud. He would spit on pitches fractions of an inch low or high. When he didn't swing you-know-when, I took it to mean that that pitch simply couldn't have been hit. Because Carlos's eye said so.

I'll miss watching him play for the Mets terribly.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The best season out of a Met is Gooden '85. The more time passes, the more I realize how hard it would be hard for a batter (or pitcher) to achieve it's equivelant.

But yeah.

[soupcan]

G-Fafif wrote: The catch on Tal's Hill. His face taking on the bullpen fence there, too. The mole. Seriously, what a mole.

Both of those.

My family named the mole 'Enrique'.