The New York Mets’ most recent extended run of success (from a win-loss perspective) coincided perfectly with my time in college. While each season between 2006 and 2008 ended in various levels of heartbreak, there are lots of fun memories from that era of Mets baseball to look back on.

One of those memories is the one-two punch Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado provided in the middle of New York’s order. At any moment, either of those sluggers had a chance of changing the game with one swing — something they did often as teammates.

Every time I think about these years of Mets baseball, one phrase comes to mind thanks to an old roommate of mine: Carlos to Carlos. It was something we (more like him) completely made up, and this quickly became a loving moniker for this powerful duo whenever we saw one of them, especially because the other usually wasn’t far behind.

This was all possible thanks to the combination of watching lots of baseball and playing plenty of video games. It was creativity at its finest, and for me, this captured what was special about these two hitters.

When the Mets signed Beltran prior to the 2005 season, it was the cherry on top of a transformational offseason that would change the trajectory of the organization. As we know, it took him a year to adjust to life in Queens before rattling off the best single-season performances of his big-league career.

Is it a coincidence Beltran posted a career-best 7.8 fWAR in 2006, which just so happened to be Delgado’s first year with the organization after getting traded by the Florida Marlins? It could be, but I don’t think so, and his production came at a position that hadn’t been getting a ton of it lately.

Keith Hernandez spoiled us in the ’80s with his terrific glove and ability to rack up offensive numbers, and it was a combination that really didn’t come around again at Shea Stadium until John Olerud spent three incredibly productive years in the orange and blue. After he left town, though, there wasn’t much happening with regard to consistent offensive production beyond one season until Delgado came along.

As our own Tim Ryder mentioned back in May, the veteran slugger averaged more than 30 homers, 30 doubles, and 100 RBI between 2006 and 2008. He enjoyed a pair of 38-homer campaigns (’06 an ’08) which still rank within the top-10 all-time on the Mets’ single-season list.

Tim also pointed out that New York’s cumulative 84.7 fWAR during this three-year period ranked second in baseball and they also collected 274 regular-season wins, most in the National League. When looking at how Beltran and Delgado contributed to that fWAR total, they combined for 25.8, which susses out to about 30.5% of the team’s total production. Most of that came from Beltran (20.2), but Delgado found other ways to directly contribute himself.

The Mets were one of 10 squads to have a team wRC+ of at least 100 during this time, and the first baseman contributed three above-average years at the dish (128, 101, 123). New York hit 549 home runs from 2006-08, and these two contributed 201 between each other (101 for Beltran, 100 for Delgado), accounting for just under 37.0% of the team total.

When using fWAR as the barometer, only Albert Pujols (24.5), Chase Utley (23.0), and Grady Sizemore (21.7) were better than Beltran, and by the looks of it, there’s an argument for Delgado’s presence being a direct correlation.

In 2006, Beltran manned the third spot 137 times, while Delgado hit cleanup 124 times. It was a similar story in 2007, although the pattern wasn’t as prevalent because Delgado struggled a bit (compared to his other two full seasons in New York). He hit cleanup 70 different times, while Beltran hit third 94 times and hit cleanup himself another 44 times. David Wright took rightful ownership of the three-hole in 2008, but Carlos to Carlos didn’t break up — Beltran spent 118 games as the cleanup hitter and another 36 in the five-spot, while Delgado spent most of his time hitting fifth (70 games) and dabbled in the cleanup spot (40) and sixth (32).

Beltran was off the charts at all times during this period, but he produced his only seasons of 7.0-plus fWAR in 2006 and 2008, which was both years Delgado collected 38 dingers.

New York was also getting energized by a young Wright and Jose Reyes (the Captain ranked right behind Beltran with 20.0 fWAR of his own during this three-year stretch). However, part of what made this lineup so deep and dynamic is the middle-of-the-order thump Beltran and Delgado provided every night.

Every time I look back at this era of Mets baseball, I get sad thinking about what might’ve been and what we thought was going to happen after 2006. This group of players was so fun to watch and it’s so unfortunate they couldn’t win a ring to be remembered forever. It’ll be hard to forget anything about these guys, but most of all, Carlos to Carlos will be imprinted in my mind for as long as I live.