One game down, another tick in the loss column for the punchless Mets. With Pedro on the mound the Mets could only muster enough offense to plate two runs against Ezequiel Astacio, who came into the game with an ERA of 8.24.
Pedro pitched well. Again. He allowed seven baserunners, including two walks to Morgan Ensberg (one intentional and one semi-intentional) and struck out eight in eight innings.
Carlos Beltran disappointed. Again. He picked up the o-fer, going hitless in four at-bats. He walked 92 times last season and has drawn only 27 walks to this point in 2005.
I was actually talking to my buddy and fellow MetsGeek writer OFF about this yesterday: to this point, is Carlos Beltran a bigger bust than Roberto Alomar? I mean, Alomar almost won the MVP in 2001, but he was already past his prime in baseball years. Beltran is just entering his prime, but he has completely fallen off a cliff. Stolen bases, walks, power, everything is off. Is he just pressing? Is there too much pressure to be a run producer batting in the #3 spot -- would he be better suited batting second? He's healthy now, and has been for a month or so. So what the hell is wrong with Carlos Beltran?
It's not even about the money at this point, though considering his king's ransom of a salary money will always be a topic of conversation. Even if you ignore his ridiculous performance in the playoffs last year, Beltran still had an outstanding season. So why does he suck so badly this year? Is it the New York Mets free agent curse? Somebody please explain it to me, beacuse I'm getting very tired of making excuses for the guy and of "giving him time to settle in". If he's feeling the pressure, well too f***ing bad, Carlos. You're supposed to be anchoring the offense, not sporting an OBP that's almost as low as Jose Reyes' (no offense to Jose, he's still a kid).
Whatever the problem is with Beltran, he needs to figure it out soon. Mets fans have given him a pass to this point, but it's going to come to a crashing halt eventually, and now's about as good a time as any. I've officially had it with Beltran's subpar play and his swinging on 3-0 and terrible at-bat after terrible at-bat.
You're on my s**tlist, Carlos, and you're going to be on a lot more of those if you don't turn things around. 100 games is enough time to get comfortable, so as far as I'm concerned, the free lunch is over, pal.
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