Holiday Filler: Carlos Beltran's Greatest Hits

by James Kannengieser on Dec 23, 2009 1:00 PM EST Comment 15 comments

Here is a respite from the rumor mill, the top ten most valuable plate appearances of Carlos Beltran's Mets career, as ranked by WPA. There's some pleasant memories here:

10. 4/16/2005
Play: RBI single off Todd Jones in the 8th inning
WPA: .331
Game Result: Mets 4, Marlins 3

Beltran had a rocky first year with the Mets but was great in his first two weeks (.884 OPS). He tied the game with a single in the 8th and the Mets took the lead on a Mike Piazza single one batter later. Braden Looper blew the save in the 9th but earned a vulture win after Ramon Castro's walkoff base hit.

9. 5/31/2008
Play: Two-run homer off Jonathan Broxton in the 8th inning
WPA: .337
Game Result: Mets 3, Dodgers 2

Fernando Tatis put the Mets ahead three batters after Beltran tied it up. Mike Pelfrey pitched great and then went on his mid-summer hot streak.

8. 5/12/2009
Play: Bases loaded walk off Jeff Bennett in the 10th inning
WPA: .344
Game Result: Mets 4, Braves 3

Sadly, this was one of the better moments of the 2009 season. The walk happened on a 3-2 count and it's possible the pitch was really strike three. Just nine days until 2010.

7. 5/23/2006
Play: Solo homer off Ryan Madson in the 16th inning
WPA: .362
Game Result: Mets 9, Phillies 8

A sixteen inning, five-and-a-half hours long marathon ended about the best way possible: walkoff homer off Madson. The Mets bullpen gave up just two runs in eleven innings. Those were the days.

6. 9/25/2008
Play: RBI single off Kevin Hart in the 9th inning
WPA: .388
Game Result: Mets 7, Cubs 6

This was a must-win game, coming one night after the infamous David Wright vs. Bob Howry matchup. Micah Hoffpauir aided this walkoff single with some spotty glovework but not before going 5-5 with two home runs in a career night.

5. 4/10/2005
Play: Two-run homer off John Smoltz in the 8th inning
WPA: .415
Game Result: Mets 6, Braves 1

Pedro Martinez was spectacular in this one (9 IP, 1 R, 9 K) and a go-ahead two run bomb off Smoltz was all the Mets needed to win. Smoltz struck out fifteen in 7.1 IP.

4. 6/11/2008
Play: Two-run homer off Edgar Gonzalez in the 13th inning
WPA: .436
Game Result: Mets 5, Diamondbacks 3

Billy Wagner blew the save but Beltran picked his teammate up in extra innings. Willie Randolph would be unemployed just a week later.

3. 9/23/2005
Play: Three-run homer off Gary Majewski in the 10th inning
WPA: .454
Game Result: Mets 5, Nationals 2

Carlos Baerga tied the game with a two-run homer in the 9th off Roberto Hernandez but Beltran's three-run shot sealed it one inning later. Steve Trachsel tossed six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

2. 8/29/2008
Play: Grand slam off Kevin Gregg in the 9th inning
WPA: .723
Game Result: Mets 5, Marlins 4

This put the Mets up three runs heading to the bottom of the 9th, which might as well have been one run given the bullpen at the time. Luis Ayala did what everyone expected him to do: allow two runs and give every Met fan a heart attack after allowing a mammoth foul ball home run which would have given the Marlins a win. Thanks for the memories Luis!

1. 8/22/2006
Play: Two-run homer off Jason Isringhausen in the 9th inning
WPA: .789
Game Result: Mets 8, Cardinals 7

Many fans call this their favorite regular season game ever and with good reason. I was in attendance and was treated to two tape measure shots from Carlos Delgado (one of which was #400 for his career), two homers from Albert Pujols and a Beltran come-from-behind walkoff.

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"One swing can win it for New York....

“HE RIPS IT TO DEEP RIGHT! THAT BALL IS OUTTA HERE! OUTTA HERE! THE METS WIN THE BALLGAME!”

That still gives me goosebumps.

by Syler on Dec 23, 2009 1:21 PM EST reply actions 3 recs

Gives me goosebumps too

rec’d

Asking a General Manager to slim down his budget is like asking an alcoholic to blow up a distillery.

by scott from peekskill on Dec 23, 2009 1:23 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe the defining game of that season

i expected a home run once the prior batter (Lo Duca I’m guessing) got on base. As a Mets fan, moments like those need to be treasures.

Trying to believe is my full-time occupation.

by Preach19 on Dec 23, 2009 7:09 PM EST up reply actions

treasured*

Trying to believe is my full-time occupation.

by Preach19 on Dec 23, 2009 7:09 PM EST up reply actions

The 16 inning game was awesome

it was a tough game but the call by Gary was stupendous in its vision.

Asking a General Manager to slim down his budget is like asking an alcoholic to blow up a distillery.

by scott from peekskill on Dec 23, 2009 1:23 PM EST reply actions

Great post!

Weird to hear some of the names that were impacting the Mets as recently as 2005… Carlos Baerga! It also is weird for me to think Piazza was on a team that had Beltran, Reyes and Wright… I think of them as two very distinct time periods with no overlap. Kind of like when I remember that Todd Hundley briefly played the outfield.

Travis Hafner is made of gold

by Super Mario on Dec 23, 2009 1:36 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, but James, you see, he struck out this one time so none of these count.

"He's definitely mixing it into his repertoire. That's French for 'repertoire' " - Keith Hernandez

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Dec 23, 2009 1:38 PM EST reply actions

That's Carlos Beltran's biggest non-hit.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Dec 23, 2009 6:43 PM EST up reply actions

I was at the 8/22/06 game

Took my dad for his birthday. It was easily the best reg. season game I’ve ever witnessed. The two Pujols homers off of Maine were absolute bombs too, one was a grand slam and the other was a 3-run shot deep into the left field bleachers, if I’m not mistaken. Beltran’s homer was a just a rocket that disappeared into the night. It was the only game I saw that year at Shea, so I was pretty lucky. Contrast that with the games I’ve seen the last two years when their win-loss record is 1-9.

by Mackey Sasser on Dec 23, 2009 2:55 PM EST reply actions

The Ryan Madson one was definitely my favorite

But I have a funny story about the Kevin Gregg one. I remember I was watching the game and I did something that made my parents really really mad. They made me go to bed pretty early, I think it was like 8:00 or something like that and I was really mad. While I was in bed I was just thinking what I was probably missing in the Met game. I must have been thinking so hard I had a dream about it or something, because when I woke up I just somehow knew, " Carlos Beltran hit a game winning grand slam last night". It just hit me as I woke up. I went to go turn on the TV and I put on ESPN and they were showing highlights of the Mets game and sure enough Beltran really hit a game winning grand slam. Then the same thing happened the next night (the next night I didn’t get in trouble but I think I went to bed early because I was sick or something like that) and in the mornign I knew Aaron Heilman blew the save. Sure enough, he blew the save. Of course, maybe that one was just a sheer educated guess given Heilman’s season but the Beltran one really confuses me to this day.

Gas prices today are a lot like a pitcher's ERA. Anything under 3 is amazing, under 4 is pretty good and anything 5 and up is something you want to avoid.

by Bobby Baseball on Dec 23, 2009 4:25 PM EST reply actions

i've had my few psychic moments with the mets...

for instance, in i think early august or so, the mets were playing the diamondbacks. after freaking sean green screwed the mets over after murphy’s double play, the mets were down 3-2 in the ninth. i think it was cory sullivan who hit a pop up to mark reynolds. i began punching a pillow (?) and saying “pull a castillo. pull a castillo. pull a castillo.” and HE DROPPED THE BALL. greatest moment. my mom was freaking out. it was great. of course pagan hit into a double play to end the game, but ya know. you can only ask so much of the mets. and also in september when david wright hit those two home runs to beat the phillies, i didn’t exactly “call it” but i said the first time, in the eighth inning, he was going to get a big hit. shabam. so then just for the hell of it in the ninth inning i said he was going to get another home run. shabam again.

by wrightttxgirlllx3 on Dec 23, 2009 5:01 PM EST up reply actions

HAHAHAH

I was livin in LA at the time and was visiting my sis in Santa Barbara for the weekend so I had to watch the game on my laptop. I was droppin a deuce watching the end of the game and my sister hears “holy shit” comin outta the bathroom and then clapping. She thought i was that proud of my number 2. Ill always remember that game

by MetsKnicksRutgers on Dec 23, 2009 6:16 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

#7 FTW!

Beer is good! And stuff!

by R_Adragna on Dec 23, 2009 4:39 PM EST reply actions

Happy to say I was at number 1 as well.

Great game.

The Mets lobby Omar for a plan, and his plan, he likes his plan. The problem is that he didn't write his plan down 'cause that makes it paperwork, and that’s false hustle... Know what I’m sayin’?

by Evan_S on Dec 23, 2009 4:47 PM EST reply actions

I had the privilege of going to two of these

I was at #10 (4/16/05) and #6 (9/25/08). The 2005 one was awesome, because it was Pedro’s Shea Stadium debut and he pitched very well. It was also Al Leiter’s return to Shea as an opposing player. Leiter had been saying the week before that he was pissed that the Mets didn’t want to negotiate with him (or something like that), and announced his added incentive to beat the Mets. After this game, I despised Looper, and that game in Pittsburgh that year when Tike Redman fouled off 18 pitches cemented him as an all time hated Met for me. He was one of the few Mets players I didn’t have a problem to boo.

The 2008 game was awesome because my best friend was able to secure close field level seats. The un-awesome part was that it rained for the entire game and we were freezing from the constant rain. Great moment for Robinson “The Fridge” Cancel though—game tying hit! And CB too, of course.

Trying to believe is my full-time occupation.

by Preach19 on Dec 23, 2009 7:22 PM EST reply actions