Carlos Beltran essentially remained in his offensive abyss until his last at-bat last night. As for Carlos Delgado, he’s beginning to hit, but last night he also appeared to have some lapses in the field.
It was slightly promising for Beltran and Delgado last night, but mostly it was a night of more struggles in the Mets’ 8-2 loss to the Yankees. Beltran went hitless in his first three at-bats before ripping a ninth-inning RBI single with the Mets down seven runs. It was Beltran’s first RBI in 10 games, though in those 10, he’s still gone just 7-for-44 (.159) with no extra-base hits.
Beltran’s been suffering from a strained left quad, something he called “probably 75” percent yesterday. He admitted it’s impacting him at the plate.
“I’ve been trying to protect my leg,” he said before the game, “and being able to do that is affecting me hitting-wise.”
But after last night, Beltran said, “In the whole game today, I feel I was using my legs more.”
He also acknowledged it was “still sore” but said, “I feel good.”
The quad bothers him more from the left side, but he’s not thinking about hitting only righty. Beltran also doesn’t want to sit out for a while.
“I want to play through it,” he said.
Beltran doesn’t plan to sit out the July 10th All-Star Game either. The last tallies had him as the NL’s leading vote-getter, and he indicated yesterday he would play if selected because the benefit of sitting out would be insufficient.
“If I made the All-Star Game, of course I want to be there,” Beltran said. “I think one game, it isn’t going to be any difference.”
Delgado went 1-for-4 with an RBI double last night, driving in the Mets’ first run. But he forgot how many outs there were in the eighth while in the field and also didn’t get into position to act as the cutoff man on Shawn Green’s second-inning throw home, nor did he fake catching the throw to potentially hold Johnny Damon at first. As a result, Green’s throw – which was off – ended up going through and allowing Damon to take second.
“It was 15 feet to my right,” Delgado said of the throw, saying it wasn’t possible to cut off.
Delgado, who said he’s “feeling a little better at the plate,” had singles in his final two at-bats on Saturday, then was robbed of a hit last night in the second inning.