Say What You Will About This Offense: It's Beltran or Bust

Yes, Jose Reyes gets the offense going. He's the table setter. He's the igniter. He's the energizer. Wright has been the most consistent bat in the lineup, Luis Castillo has been a fine addition and ideal #2 hitter, and we've got the right handed power bat we were longing for with the return of Moises "welcome to the 2007 season" Alou. Though I must say we could surely do without his superhuman ability to hit into double plays (it seems even with no men on base). But let's face facts. One Carlos "now you see me now you don't " Beltran is by far and away the key to this offense and the Met's success as we come down to the final 6 weeks of the season. If this team wants to not only make the postseason but to make that first trip to the promised land since the days of Keith Hernandez (aka - winner of the Top Mustache of All Time Award) and Danny Heep (heep heeeep heeeep. that's right i said it) then Beltran has to be in the middle of it. Forget about the caught looking, strike 3 call in game 6 of the NLCS he watched go by like Jessica Biel in a bikini. I mean, that was the nastiest pitch Wainwright has ever thrown and 75% of major leaguers wouldn't have even gotten a bat on that ball. I forgive you Carlos. Those bats are hard to lift off your shoulder on a cold october night as it is. We've moved on from that. But if the Mets are to make any noise Beltran better get his act together. And fast. Now, i'm not so unrealistic to think that we need to see the 2006 version of Carlos but somewhere between '05 and '06 will do. He's got to stay healthy, get hs eye back at the plate, improve on his abysmal 1 to 5 k/ab ratio, and stop trying to do too much. The fact that the other night, with 1 man on and 2 out, with the tying run coming to the plate, I would have much rather had Castillo hit and hope he extends the game then do what Willie did and bring Beltran up to pinch hit with the hopes he goes deep. I mean, he had about as good a chance at going yard in that situation as Coop-a-Fink did. If Beltran doesn't find his stroke soon, and he hasn't found it since April, then he will continue to be the bottleneck rally killer that you just can't have hitting 3rd in your lineup. I don't know. Maybe this is what he truly is. An inconsistent hitter with some pop and some speed that has no business being looked at as the best hitter on the team. I hope that's not the case. I pray that's not true. I want to be one of 55,000 screaming lunatics at Shea come October and it's going to take a productive Carlos Beltran to make that happen.