So after the Mets got swept in Pittsburgh three games, Carlos Beltran let loose on Thursday evening……Beltran - “Coming here to Pittsburgh and being swept -- personally, I feel embarrassed.”
Beltran - "We have to play better, there's no doubt we have to play better. We have to take this personal, because this can't happen. For us to come here and lose three games just like that. It can't happen."
Beltran - "I know they're a big-league ballclub, but we're better than them. We know we're better than them, but we have to do something about it."
Beltran - "McLouth wasn't there and they still come out and score how many runs? Eleven? Eleven runs, we have to play better."
So many people in NY have been waiting to hear this type of fire from Carlos for such a long time. This was an issue form many people when Carlos came to NY. Many people thought that he was to quiet and to reserve to lead this ball club. I don’t know what prompted it, maybe it’s because Delgado isn’t there, Wright won’t speak up and he figured that he needs to be the leader. Maybe it’s just all the frustrations with all the injuries the Mets have.
You don’t often hear professional players, even the most boisterous one’s, challenge the guys that dress in the same locker room like he did.
You also don’t often hear a professional player degrade another organization or opposing players the way he did. I know he didn’t mean anything by it, but that’s how upset he was. The fact that that he mentioned the verity they were a big league ball club (as if he had to tell the reporters, because they didn’t know) was nothing short of a “crossing the line” insult. You just don’t say stuff like that (even if that’s what you feel.) That’s the type of thing that gets you flipped and lands you on your ass end when you step into the batter’s box.
Perhaps Beltran letting off some steam will do the Mets some good. We’ll see if they rise to his challenge. I’m not ready to say that yet, because I don’t think that the Mets are as good as some people do. I have to see them take it all the way without a collapse at least one time first before I can get behind this bunch. But what I can see is Beltran carrying a Rotisserie team. He’s got the tools to do it, and he’s done it for periods of time before.
I think Beltran now has that “edge” that all great players have to have; the “you can’t get me out” edge. A few weeks ago, Beltran, the all-time percentage base stealer who has been labeled and condemned for not running enough and running only running when he KNOWS he’d be safe, stole 3rd base in a big spot with one out and down by one in the bottom of the 9th. Now he’s had this verbal outburst. The guy is becoming a New Yorker; with the attitude of a New Yorker. The fans will come to love him if he continues this way because New Yorker’s take care of their own.
You heard it here first. Beltran is now comfortable in his surroundings. By his recent actions he has proclaimed himself THE MAN in the Mets uniform.
……And so it shall be that Carlos Beltran will take off on one of those 4-5 month runs that only a few players have the physical talent to produce jettisoning him to stardom in NY, winning him the NL MVP and helping someone else win a Rotisserie title (because once again I don’t have the right guy………) – Mike Cardano
Mike Cardano is the founder of Around The Horn and Ultimate Franchise Baseball ™.
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