For One Night, Carlos Quiets His Critics

By Jack Flynn
Posted Wednesday, May 13, 2009

This time, he decided to slide.

There was Carlos Beltran, dancing off second base, where moments before he had taken up residence as the result of a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves. The Mets were trailing 3-2, but a team that looked dead in the water just 30 minutes before suddenly appeared very much alive again.

One batter later, Beltran was still standing on second. David Wright had the first crack at being the hero, but on this night he wasn’t up to the task. His pop-out was a frustrating result, and it will be a little more fodder for the talk-radio yahoos who confidently proclaim that the Mets’ third baseman can do so many wonderful things – he just can’t do them “in the clutch.”

As if a baseball game played on May 12 could ever really feature something that lives up to the definition of a “clutch situation.”

Now Fernando Tatis was up, another chance for a Met batter to drive in the tying run and to be a hero just for one night. The first pitch to Tatis was a strike, and did Beltran’s lead off second base just get a little longer?

On the next pitch he was off on a mad dash for third base, trying to complete one of the most exciting plays in the game of baseball. Braves pitcher Mike Gonzalez had his back turned to the runner throughout his delivery to the plate, a necessary function of being a southpaw with a man on second base.

Gonzalez’s offering was an off-speed pitch that dropped in for a strike, but left Braves catcher Brian McCann with the unenviable task of trying to throw out Beltran with all the advantages in the runner’s favor.

Tatis, of course, is right-handed, which makes the catcher have to adjust when trying to throw out a potential thief at third base. The count was 0-1, which gives the pitcher the option of going away from the fastball and decreases the necessity of throwing a pitch in the strike zone. And as mentioned, Gonzalez is left-handed – which may be an advantage when holding runners on first base, but is a disadvantage once the base runner has made it into scoring position.

Beltran chose to try a headfirst slide to elude the tag of Braves third baseman Chipper Jones. It is so often a foolish and unnecessary play, but on this night it was absolutely essential to keeping the Mets’ hopes alive.

The slide was the thing of beauty. Beltran has been criticized, and sometimes rightfully so, for being too cautious on the basepaths throughout his Met tenure. He annually boasts an impressive stolen base success rate, but Beltran’s detractors say it is merely a function of running when the odds are outrageously stacked in his favor.

Earlier this year, Beltran was blasted for failing to slide on two separate occasions when the play demanded it. Suddenly, Beltran was emblematic of everything that was wrong with the 2009 Mets –content to collect big checks but reluctant to get the uniform dirty while doing so.

Who knows why Beltran chose not to slide back then? Speculation is easy; the truth is usually more complicated. Tonight, though, Beltran would show the Mets faithful that he could take chances, that he would be daring, that he was willing to take a risk in order to reap a greater reward.

He took off for third base with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Mets trailing the Braves by one run. It was a calculated risk, even with some of the aforementioned factors in his favor. Swipe the base successfully, and Beltran is in prime position to tie the game. Get gunned down stealing, and you might as well dig a hole under the bag and hide there until the field crew turns out the lights.

There is a fine line between aggression and stupidity on the basepaths – Jose Reyes admitted that he crossed that line by trying to stretch a two-run double into a triple in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game. Beltran’s decision to steal was not stupid, it was aggressive – and that type of aggression can reap tremendous benefits both on the field and in the clubhouse.

Now, did Beltran’s hand actually touch third base before Chipper Jones’s glove touched his hand? To quote Roy Turner, the umpire called it safe.

Seconds later, he was home with the tying run. Minutes later, Beltran would be the hero again.

The bases were loaded with two outs in the tenth inning, and Beltran stepped into the batter’s box against Jeff Bennett with the Citi Field crowd roaring in hopeful anticipation. Six pitches from Bennett, six times the bat stayed on Beltran’s shoulder. Game over. Patience sometimes truly is a virtue.

Five years into a seven-year contract in New York, Beltran is having a marvelous season so far – at least on the stats page. Tuesday night’s heroics, however, were truly special – the stuff of a true superstar.

And it all started with a simple slide.