The weather may have dampened plans to get a game in today for the Mets, but it certainly didn’t rain on Beltran’s parade as both Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson confirmed that he will indeed play in the final two grapefruit league games and be in the lineup on Opening Day for the Mets.
“Carlos said he’s feeling good and he’s ready to go,” Sandy Alderson said. “At some point you’ve got to move forward.”
The news comes after Beltran’s most positive day of the spring on Sunday, when he played right field in a minor league game for five innings.
Beltran swung the bat left-handed and went 2-5 with three RBI and a run scored while making a couple of difficult plays in the field.
It was the best he’s looked all spring and with the game came a big smile and some obvious confidence from the new right fielder.
“I’m happy the way I’ve been feeling. I’m just looking forward to continuing to get better”, said Beltran. “Today I was able to get two hits out of five at-bats. Basically we gain confidence by results. That’s how this game works.”
“He smiled and joked with teammates later on” according to this column by Kevin Kernan of the NY Post in which he writes that Beltran is exibiting signs that he is an active part of this team and using words like “we” instead of “knee”.
I never doubted he’d be in the lineup on Opening Day. LGM
