This was the bottom of the ninth, Game 7—the same game that had already seen Endy Chavez's amazing catch, in Shea Stadium. Mets loaded the bases with two outs and Beltran, their best hitter at the plate against rookie relief pitcher, Loudon Adam Wainwright, who had all of three saves in his career, and looked as shaky as a Trump lawyer out there.
Beltran let the first pitch go by for a strike, swung and missed at the second, then stood as still as the Statue of Liberty for strike three.
The Mets are retiring his number.
Oh, Mets.
To be sure, Carlos Beltran had some terrific years with the Mets.
And hey, added bonus: Beltran also played a key role in another piece of fraudulent Metsian lore. When Johan Santana pitched the team's one and only, single-pitcher no-hitter, back in 2012, Beltran, then with the Cardinals, in fact hit a double down the line. One that kicked up chalk.
In those pre-replay days, it was allowed to stand.
But I metsgress.
It's all but impossible to imagine the Yanks retiring the number of somebody whose biggest moment was taking a called third strike. Right down the middle. With the bases loaded. With two out. In the bottom of the ninth inning. To decide the seventh game of a league championship series.
But then, a lot of the Mets' retired numbers are, well, just plain weird. In part, this is due to the fact that the team just started play...64 years ago. In part, it's because...Mets.
Consider:
David Wright (#5)—Perfectly admirable player and captain. Made one World Series—in which he allowed Royals to score tying run in 9th inning of clinching game by reading the play wrong, and cutting in front of his shortstop to field a groundball.
Gil Hodges (#14)—Managed Mets to miracle World Series win, but played only 65 games for the team, after Hall-of-Fame career in Brooklyn.
Dwight Gooden (#16)—Great pitcher in his prime, and a tragic story. Won 1 World Series with the Mets—and 2 with the Yankees.
Keith Hernandez (#17)—Captain, star, beloved announcer and Seinfeld guest. Won MVP...with the Cardinals.
Darryl Strawberry (#18)—Great hitter in his prime, and a tragic/triumphant story. Won 1 World Series with the Mets—and 4 with the Yankees.
Willie Mays (#24)—A god—with the Giants. Nice send off from the Mets, but he had little left.
Mike Piazza (#31)—Juicer. Never won a World Series with anybody.
Casey Stengel (#37)—Excellent ballplayer with Dodgers and Giants, greatest manager ever with the Yankees. Amusing ornament with Mets.
Talk about your reflected glory. Fun fact: Of all the Mets' retired player/manager numbers, only Tom Seaver (#41) and Jerry Koosman (#36) won more World Series with the Mets than they did with another team.
The Mets are not only retiring Beltran's number this weekend, they have also produced a documentary tribute to the man, one they play repeatedly on SNY.
In the doc, Beltran comes off as the Edith Piaf of baseball, saying repeatedly how he regrets nothing.
Not the called third strike.
Not his deep involvement in the Houston Astros cheating scandal that cost him a chance to become the Mets' manager.
(Has any other team ever retired the number of a player who was kept from becoming their manager because of a cheating scandal?)
He did clear up one thing for me, though, which was that he did not come to the Yankees as a free agent in 2005, because he had the deepest respect for Bernie Williams, and did not want to push him out of centerfield. While this sounds like just another Beltran excuse, it is confirmed by Bernie himself, in the same documentary.
Don't get me wrong. I love Bernie Williams with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. But Bernie was already in decline—and already being pushed out the door by Cashman.
Geez Louise, Bern, you couldn't have said to Beltran, 'Great, man! Come play center, and I'll move over to left.'?
No?
Everybody sing now:
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien..
Posts
5 comments:
Everyone keeps harpin' on Beltran taking that called third strike, but is that really such a huge sin? I mean, they were down to their last out. And then down to their last strike. Anything can happen there. Sure, taking strike 3, is an unprofessional at-bat but he must've been looking for another pitch. And, even if he did take a feeble cut to try to foul it off, there's nothing that says he definitely makes contact - he might've swung right through it. We've all seen plenty worse than taking strike 3 over the plate for the last out of a game.
I didn't know about the Bernie Williams tangent with Carlos Beltran. That's really strange. What I get from that, reading between the lines, is that Beltran did not want to be on the same team as Bernie. As to why that would be ... maybe Beltran didn't want to be held to the kind of standards that Bernie had put up? That could very well be. Being on the same team as Bernie, taking over in CF, that would be a lot of pressure. Bernie was one of the best clutch hitters of all time. I could see Beltran trying to steer away from Bernie's shadow.
DODGER OWNER ACCUSED OF FRAUD:
https://www.essentiallysports.com/mlb-baseball-news-dodgers-owner-mark-walter-accused-of-fraud-as-legal-drama-escalates/?utm_source=essentially-dugout.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=dodgers-owner-accused-of-fraud&email_hash=45a5b51ed1f4b76510762e237a6a15126399e850a3b85a04bde0e969f5a7797f&_bhlid=a342d06f3773786e2a0efd98265ffe2ed84a3679
He should be whipped, flogged, flagellated, tarred & feathered, then emasculated, disemboweled, hung, drawn, crucified, quartered, and finally burned at the stake.
But he'll probably get pardoned by the Asshole-in-Chief Trump, maybe get a slap on the wrist from Rob Manfred, a suspended 14 day suspension contingent upon not getting arrested for soliciting prostitution over the next 7 days. And maybe a $10 fine, payable to the local library fund to purchase school supplies for orphaned children.
Does anyone buy annuities? Do not buy an annuity. At least not without understanding exactly what you're getting yourself into. I would never buy an annuity. Would rather be disemboweled.
Post a Comment