:-(

“Actually, I’m not thinking about the fans, I’m thinking about myself,”
...
What happened in 2006, you have to turn the page. That’s over. We can’t bring 2006 back to 2012. It has been six years. If they want to continue to think about that moment, then that’s their problem. Like I said, I have turned the page. I have really moved on."

This man should write break-up speeches for other men. Fantastic.

Was something lost in translation here? Sheesh.

I don't disagree with the sentiment (as a Mets fan), but you don't...you don't have to be so...*sniff*...mean about it, Carlos.

i used to work with a guy who was from queens. when the cards and the mets were in the 2000 LCS, we had a bet. the loser had to wear the other team's shirt to work for a full day. he was nice enough to let me pick out the mets shirt i had to wear, but it was just excruciating. as a sort of comeuppance, i wore that shirt whenever i mowed the lawn for years afterward until it was in tatters.

in 2006, we had another bet on. by then i was in L.A., and he was still in new orleans. the loser had to send the winner some kind of favorite food. i made him send me ten pounds of boudin. best bet i ever made ...

looking forward to carlos roaming the outfield. he was on clubhouse confidential saying that mike matheny was telling him he might be asked to play a little centerfield. i hope not too much.

I don't disagree with the sentiment (as a Mets fan), but you don't...you don't have to be so...*sniff*...mean about it, Carlos.

Word. I get that a lot of Met fans (not on this site, but we're special) never really appreciated him. This does seem a little unnecessary/over the top.

i used to work with a guy who was from queens. when the cards and the mets were in the 2000 LCS, we had a bet. the loser had to wear the other team's shirt to work for a full day. he was nice enough to let me pick out the mets shirt i had to wear, but it was just excruciating. as a sort of comeuppance, i wore that shirt whenever i mowed the lawn for years afterward until it was in tatters.

in 2006, we had another bet on. by then i was in L.A., and he was still in new orleans. the loser had to send the winner some kind of favorite food. i made him send me ten pounds of boudin. best bet i ever made ...

One doubts you have to worry much about a rubber match taking place in 2012.

The odd thing is that I think most Mets' fans are long since over 2006 -- so much has happened to/with the team since then. It seems an eternity ago, really. To Beltran, of course, it was the defining moment in so many ways of his time with the team and of his relationship with Mets' fans (at least a big chunk of them, and it always seems to be raised when he was going bad and a few boo birds would be heard). So it's understandable, I think, that Carlos would have a very 2006 NLCS-centric perspective on where Mets' fans are and the way they/we think about the team.

But you know . . . that's not really the truth of it, once you step away from Carlos Beltran's narrow POV. You had epic collapses in 2007 and 2008. You've had the departure of Jose Reyes. The various embarrassments, from mishandling of injuries to Paul LoDuca and Tony Bernazard and Omar Minaya/Adam Rubin, to the mother of all nightmares, the ownership debacle. Winning the NL East, being the team to end the Braves' long run at the top, making it to the NLCS ... you know how fast I'd take that in 2012, even if I knew we'd lose in a heartbreaker in Game 7? Trust me, Monty Hall -- you've got a deal.

So yeah -- I get where Carlos I is coming from. But it's not where most Mets' fans are these days. At least I don't think it is.

At least there is no chance Carlos will take strike 3 to end the 2012 NLCS on an Adam Wainwright curveball.

The odd thing is that I think most Mets' fans are long since over 2006

Have you ever spent a week vacationing in WFAN-land?

At least there is no chance Carlos will take strike 3 to end the 2012 NLCS on an Adam Wainwright curveball.

That always struck me as an absurd reason to hate Beltran, since Wainwright has one of the filithiest curves in the league, and I remember that one being a dandy.

Pitchf/x was around for that game, but looking in the logs, it has data for all the pitches Wainwright threw... except the three to Beltran.

CONSPIRACY!!!!! FREE BELTRAN!!

At least there is no chance Carlos will take strike 3 to end the 2012 NLCS on an Adam Wainwright curveball.

That always struck me as an absurd reason to hate Beltran, since Wainwright has one of the filithiest curves in the league, and I remember that one being a dandy.

Yeah, that thing was a knee-buckler. He didn't watch at a fastball on the corner go by. He was thrown an excellent curve and couldn't pull the trigger. It was terrible if your a Mets fan, but Beltran was beat by a great pitch.

I think I was always more annoyed at Cliff Floyd for that miserable inning of existence.

I don't disagree with the sentiment (as a Mets fan), but you don't...you don't have to be so...*sniff*...mean about it, Carlos.

Word. I get that a lot of Met fans (not on this site, but we're special) never really appreciated him. This does seem a little unnecessary/over the top.

It does, but since I've never thought Beltran was a jerk, I wonder if he got a lot of #### we didn't really hear about. All it would take is a couple of ######## every year shouting "Strike Three!" or "Swing the bat" across the street at him to keep that chip on his shoulder. And, in spite of WAR, Beltran is widely perceived to have been something of a bust for the Mets. I suspect The Strike is his way of condensing fans' unjustified disappointment of him into one handy episode.

@11: agreed. It was a nutbuster of a curve.

The first-pitch, straight, down-the-pipe changeup was the most hittable offering of the Wainwright-Beltran AB.

Beltran, while a statistically fine player, was never popular with the majority of Mets fans I talked to. Some viewed him as bland and passionless, and felt he never stepped up as a team leader. Others resented him for missing so many games with injuries. If the Mets had won more while he was there, I think the perception would have been different.

If he ends up making the Hall of Fame, I'll be curious to see if Mets fans change their tune on him.

@16: I'd bet they won't. You're right--he was never particularly popular in NY. I suppose assuming he goes in as a Met, and if he gets up on the podium and gives a passionate paean to Met fans that might turn things around, at least a little, but that seems very unlike Beltran and wouldn't really be consistent with his experience in NY, at least as he's described it to date.

wonder if he wishes he had just stayed in houston. i often wonder if it would have changed our fate...

HOF seems out of reach. I bet voters would have a difficult time separating him from Bernie Williams, Bobby Bonds (although he played less CF than I thought), Fred Lynn, Dale Murphy, etc.

@17: probably. After his great 2004 postseason he would have been the toast of the town had he stayed. As for the team's fortunes, you guys lost the WS in '05 4-0. Hard to see how even a Beltran postseason would have changed that. In 2006, Beltran instead of Willy Taveras (ugh) probably nips the Cardinals for the division, then who knows? in the postseason. Still, it's hard to see that Houston team, which was barely .500, winning the WS. What do you think might have changed?

@18: as of now, I agree. Still, I think he has an excellent chance of separating himself from that pack over the next five years. He had a great season in 2011, and has been willing to move of CF. If he can pace himself he could have a very nice, long decline. Even so, he'll never be a first ballot guy, but could well be a player who makes it with some room to spare. I tend not to bet on 34 year olds sticking around for another five years, but Beltran's bat is good enough for us to imagine him DHing successfully into his late 30s.

Beltran, while a statistically fine player, was never popular with the majority of Mets fans I talked to. Some viewed him as bland and passionless, and felt he never stepped up as a team leader. Others resented him for missing so many games with injuries. If the Mets had won more while he was there, I think the perception would have been different.

If he ends up making the Hall of Fame, I'll be curious to see if Mets fans change their tune on him.

I could change Beltran to Edmonds, and Mets to Cardinals and add "struck out too much in crucial situations" and that would be how most of St Louis felt about Jimmy until 2006, he wasn't really appreciated until he was pretty much gone.


I agree with the early post, yes Beltran is right, but it was a pretty blunt comment.

no one ever mentions history's original greatest monster, Shawn Green, and his enablers, Omar and Willie

I don't disagree with the sentiment (as a Mets fan), but you don't...you don't have to be so...*sniff*...mean about it, Carlos.

In fairness to Beltran, the article doesn't mention the question that prompted the response. It's not difficult to imagine Beltran being asked a question phrased in such a combative manner (i.e., "How do you address those Mets fans who feel that you were a great disappointment who never lived up to expectations and constantly let the team down?") that it pratically guaranteed such a reply.

As for this Mets fan opinion of Beltran: glad to have had him on my team; wish we could have had him longer.

DB

Carlos Beltran was--and is--a wonderful player, and any Met fan who doesn't appreciate how fortunate we were to have him on our team should have to wear Tony Bernazard's jock strap as a hat. His 1st 4 seasons in NY he averaged 149 games a year, in spite of bad knees and a horrific head-to-head collision with Mike Cameron (which put Cameron out for the season). It was only when the Mets' medical staff couldn't come up with a reasonable treatment plan for him that he missed significant time, half of 2009, almost two thirds of 2010. But when he did play he kept on hitting, and was superb when he was able to return to full-time duty in 2011. That Omar & the Wilpons made such a mess of things is not on Carlos at all. Since the Mets barely have a prayer of staying out of last place in the East, I will be rooting for Carlos to get a ring with the Cardinals.

I could change Beltran to Edmonds, and Mets to Cardinals and add "struck out too much in crucial situations" and that would be how most of St Louis felt about Jimmy until 2006, he wasn't really appreciated until he was pretty much gone.

Wait, Edmonds had an unclutch reputation after this game? Not disputing you, since I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of the Cardinals fandom... just confused.

i wore that shirt whenever i mowed the lawn for years afterward until it was in tatters.

I think you're doing it wrong.

Wait, Edmonds had an unclutch reputation after this game? Not disputing you, since I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of the Cardinals fandom... just confused.

Yes. He struck out too much during the regular season when people think he should have gotten hit, or would work a walk with a man in scoring position instead of trying to drive the ball. Heck there is a portion of Cardinal fans that think Pujols is unclutch(not a bright faction mind you, but a pretty vocal portion that was happy to see him go)

Carlos Beltran was--and is--a wonderful player, and any Met fan who doesn't appreciate how fortunate we were to have him on our team should have to wear Tony Bernazard's jock strap as a hat

Yes.

And Delgado, Beltran and Reyes were my favorite trio of players, personality-wise, on any team ever. The late-90s Mets had some great combos in terms of talent (Olerud, Piazza, Alfonzo), but nowhere near as likeable. And for a while, the Mets even marketed these guys well.

Yes. He struck out too much during the regular season when people think he should have gotten hit

he had a funny looking swing, i always thought, so he looked really bad whenever he struck out. so i could see how some fans thought he was unclutch.