Carlos Beltran Placed On Disabled List
Third core member of Mets lineup on the shelf
By JOSH ALPER
Updated 5:45 PM EST, Mon, Jun 22, 2009
This morning we wrote that the Mets couldn't start feeling sorry for themselves because of the bad breaks that have piled up this season. It's still not a particularly good way to go through life or a baseball season, but it's going to be hard to avoid a few curses at the heavens at this hour.
Carlos Beltran is heading to the disabled list after Monday's MRI revealed that the bone bruise on his right knee had gotten worse since his cortisone shot at the end of May. You can't accuse any Mets fans of playing Chicken Little anymore, because there's no clearer sign that the sky has fallen than Fernando Tatis batting cleanup halfway through the season.
It's a brutal blow at just about the worst possible time. The Cardinals start a four-game visit on Monday, followed by games with the Yankees, Brewers, Phillies and, if Beltran isn't back in the minimum 15 days, Dodgers. There's a makeup with the Pirates wedged in there, but that's brief respite from a stretch of tough games with a lineup that is the envy of no other teams in the major leagues.
The Mets are going to have to play above their level to put up anything close to the meager results they've managed thus far this month, and it is all too easy to see them five or six games below .500 when the All-Star break rolls around. If the Phillies can right their ship in that time, that could mean a huge gap between the teams and scant hope for the future.
Even with the miserable weather this month, there haven't been this many dark clouds over Queens in quite some time.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Jun 22, 2009 4:28 PM EST
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