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Beltran' best shot to being key to city

Johnette Howard

May 20, 2005

He will go into this weekend thinking less about what his first Subway Series will be like and more about whether this will be the weekend when something big finally happens for him. Is this the weekend when something inside of him finally ignites, clicks in and breaks out?

Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran isn't off to a bad start. But if you ask Beltran to rate himself, he crosses his arms, exhales and finally says, "Aw, you know ... ," as if the topic slightly pains him.

When reminded that he's hitting just four points under .300, Beltran softly retorts, "Yeah, yeah, I know. But, you know ... "

But what? Isn't he still driving in runs? Beltran shrugs and nods. Told he's still making all the plays in centerfield, Beltran allows, "I do feel good defensively." Then he winces and volunteers that he hasn't stolen a base in what feels like a month and a half. "And it's not because I can't," he mutters.

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The Mets are 22-19 anyway, but he wants more. More of everything.

With one-fourth of the season gone, Beltran is looking for the sort of statement game or streak that indelibly makes him a Met, in the same way that so many high-priced free agents have had to earn their stripes on the way to becoming a "true" Yankee.

And the Mets? Starting this weekend and stretching for the next 10 days, they can make a strong statement that they're for real, and not just a nice little club that will fade by the All-Star break.

For anyone who remembers Beltran clouting eight home runs to power Houston's playoff run last season, it's natural to wonder if this weekend's electric atmosphere at Shea -- the leather-lunged crowds, the fun of playing for bragging rights, the sight of Pedro Martinez renewing his feud with the Yankees on Sunday -- will pull out the greatness that's lurking inside Beltran.

Beltran is anxious to pull it out of himself, too.

Starting with this weekend's three-game set against the Yankees, then moving on to important divisional clashes against Atlanta and Florida, Beltran has a chance to make his most important contribution as a Met. He has the opportunity to do what Tino Martinez did during the previous two weeks for the reeling Yankees, and help the Mets shoot up in the standings. He has a chance to provide the first defining moments in their season since Pedro Martinez snapped the Mets' season-opening skid with a pitching gem in Atlanta.

This is the second time in the nine-year history of the Subway Series that the Mets have a better winning percentage than the Yankees (.537 to the Yankees' .512). Yet Bel.tran remains the Mets' biggest curiosity. No starting outfield in the National League is playing a better all-around game than the Mets' trio of Beltran, Cliff Floyd and Mike Cameron are right now. Floyd and Cameron have had sizzling hitting streaks, but Beltran still is looking for his first.

"I feel better, but I don't feel real, real, real, real comfortable at the plate," Beltran said. "I mean, I can go 0-for-10, but I still feel comfortable every at-bat. But that is something I don't have right now. Sometimes you come to the ballpark, you have a good day and you think, 'OK! I got it.' The next day you come to the ballpark and you feel kinda lost at the plate. I haven't been able to feel like every day is consistent. I'm still looking for that."

The good news is the Mets are 22-19 anyway. But Beltran's ambition from the moment he signed with the Mets was to make the franchise a big winner. He wasn't repelled by the Mets' cellar-dwelling past. He wasn't put off by the idea of sharing headlines with the Yankees. Nor does he feel slighted that the Yankees didn't make a bigger play to sign him during the offseason. Asked if he ever really saw himself ending up in pinstripes, Beltran says, "In the offseason, no. Because their priority was pitching. That's why they went out and signed Randy [Johnson]."

The Mets signed Beltran to be their A-Rod, their Jeter. And Beltran takes his role as a franchise cornerstone seriously. He seeks out Martinez often for advice. He didn't stop helping the Mets' promising young infielders, David Wright and Jose Reyes, once the team broke spring training. Nowadays, Wright says, "Carlos will sit with me and Josey before games and explain what that pitcher's got, what his tendencies are. Above all, he wants to win."

Beltran repeats the last phrase all the time.

"He's doing a nice job, don't get me wrong," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "But I don't think you've really seen the best of him yet."