This came to me as I watch Carlos Beltran finish a horrible evening. On the way to Yankee Stadium I listened to talk radio, which is usually a mistake. Anyway, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing about Beltran.
The guy doesn’t care. He’s too soft. He loafs.
This came from the fans, who honestly I thought would know better if they’ve been paying attention. It also came from the radio hosts who couldn’t find Shea with a map.
Beltran is in a miserable slump, but he’s also playing on a strained left quad. The guy should be on the DL. “Rest is the only thing that will take care of it, but I’m not going to rest.’’
For an explanation of Beltran’s lack of power recently, it’s the quad. The left leg is Beltran’s push-off leg when batting left-handed, which is how he would generate his power.
In my line of thinking, anybody who plays hurt isn’t soft.
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6 Comments
John,
I agree. Beltran gets this reputation of being soft and it isn’t fair. He plays hurt, he struggles when he is playing
hurt, but he does play hurt.
But here is my question. If it bothers Beltran the most when he bats left-handed, maybe he should just bat right handed regardless until it doesn’t bother him as much. I know the preference is to bat left handed with a right handed pitcher, but if he isn’t doing much now, why not give it a shot??
If he is playing hurt and he is ineffective then he is not helping the team. I don’t want heroes, I want effective players. Then he should go on the DL.
And by the way, Beltran did show his softness by striking out agains Wainright last year, and demonstrated again striking out on Saturday. Here he owns the Cardinals, and he strikes out in one of the biggest at bats in Met history. He probably cost them a championship there, and for that I will never forgive him.
Jimmy, honostly get over it. NOBODY was going to hit that nasty siiiiiiiick curveball from Wainwright.
Nobody, it was just a sick and perfect pitch. I didn’t matter whether it was Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Barry Bonds, Pete Rose or Babe Ruth, nobody was going to hit that!
You can keep believing that if you like, but clutch players always find a way in that spot. It is no accident that Derek Jeter wears 4 rings, and that Keith Hernandez TWICE in 1982 for St. Louis and 1986 for the Mets got the game tying hit in game 7 of the World Series. It is called clutch hitters, of which Beltran is not. I refuse to accept that Adam Wainright is now Bruce Sutter or Goose Gossage. I will never forgive Beltran for that out. I most likely cost this team a championship.
Full Disclosure: I am a Yankees fan but I hope I am being impartial on Beltran.
Beltran is not a clutch hitter? Give me a break. He spent most of his career with the lousy Kansas City Royals. In 82 at bats in the post season he has 11 HR, 19 rbis, a 366/485/817 line. Yes, he struck out to end the LCS. But weren’t other a few pther guys who failed in that game..Valentin in the 7th, Floyd in the 9th (or Randolph/Manuel sending him to hit despite an injury). I always felt Wagner’s meltdown in game 2, getting tattooed, gave the Cardinals a lot of self-confidence. Baseball is a team sport.
I think it can be questioned if the Mets should DL Beltran and let him heal. But he is trying to help his team when the corner OFs Green and Alou are hurt, Delgado is slumping and the starting pitching a patchwork after Perez and occasionally Maine. A guy who is willing to play hurt is fine in my book.
I second Jim Clark’s entire post (minus the Yankee fan part). And Carlos did say it would not get worse by playing, so he is likely waiting for one of the DL outfielders to come back before taking some time off. Meanwhile, if he went on DL today, everyone would be whining about how Beltran is so soft that he goes on DL instead of helping the team through the slump.
Carlos is not soft. He is a team player and an all star. The fact that he doesn’t always look like he is exerting effort does not change the fact that he gives 110% every single game.
And, if you gave up on him because of 1 called strike (which was a great pitch btw), not sure how you haven’t committed suicide yet this month.