The memory weighs on Mets fans like lead: Carlos Beltran looking at strike three to end the 2006 National League Championship Series. Mets fans don't forgive.
But David Wright yesterday noted how those fans have allowed Beltran's failures to overshadow so much of the good the switch-hitting outfielder managed with the Mets.
"Carlos was, in a crazy way, one of the more underrated or maybe more under-appreciated players I've ever played with," Wright said of his former teammate — and All-Star mate tonight. "He had a couple monster seasons with us, and he was a huge reason we got where we were in 2006. We came within a couple runs of going to the World Series, and we don't even get close to that without Carlos."
Beltran, who played with the Mets for 6 1/2 seasons from 2005 to 2011, stressed how "one at-bat" should not be his legacy. But if Mets fans want to dwell on that, he said, so be it. He then made a subtle dig: Maybe someday the Mets can come up with another center fielder with comparable numbers.
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"You think about it, but you don't focus on that," Beltran said of Wright's suggestion he was under-appreciated. "You think about it, you're like, 'Well, I don't know.'
"I don't know what else I could have done. When you look at my career and the numbers I put up in center field here, I mean honestly, I feel just one pitch or one at-bat doesn't really dictate a career.
"But if the fans want to see it that way, I have nothing against that. I don't see it that way."
Beltran then gave a quick inventory of his stay in Flushing. His debut 2005 season, when he hit .266, "wasn't a real good year." But 2006 (.275, 41 HRs, 116 RBIs), 2007 (.276, 33 HR, 112 RBIs), 2008 (.284, 27 HRs, 112 RBIs) and 2011 (.289, 15 HRs, 66 RBIs in half a season) all were classified as "good." Beltran cited knee injuries for hampering his 2009 and 2010 seasons.
"So I'm good with that," Beltran said. "Hopefully, they can find another center fielder like me that can put up those type of numbers."
They essentially have been looking since Beltran left town. Wright hopes the Cardinals right fielder, who was voted to start tonight's game, receives an appreciative response at Citi Field.
"Hopefully, it's warm, it's a nice reception, because he was a heckuva player for us," Wright said. "It's unfortunate he had some of the injuries that he did. He did a lot for our organization and for me as a player."
fred.kerber@nypost.com
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