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Coleman's Corner: Carlos Beltran No Longer Center Of Attention

By Ed Coleman
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The decision which was supposed to be determined over a couple of weeks came to a quick conclusion on Monday morning at Mets camp. Carlos Beltran walked into manager Terry Collins' office and announced that he was moving.

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Beltran has been a Gold Glove center-fielder, but felt the time was right to move to right field.

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There were a couple of advantages that Beltran saw by making the switch now from center to right.

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And the Met veteran acknowledged something that Collins had realized long ago - that regardless of where he was playing in the field, the most important thing was having Beltran's bat in the lineup on an everyday basis.

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For his part, Angel Pagan, now the center fielder, always felt it was a win-win situation - anyway you positioned it, he would be alongside his mentor, friend and idol.

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Even though he played the good soldier, Pagan admitted that it was nice to have the situation resolved at an early stage.

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As for the manager, he has a lot on his plate, and to clear this obstacle at this point in camp was extremely pleasing.

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Many people will say that Beltran - in the last year of his contract - knows he has to put up numbers, after a couple of injury-plagued years, in order to secure another deal and keep playing baseball. The best way to ensure that is to play a position that may be less taxing on his wounded knees. Collins chose to look at it as a supreme sacrifice that sent a valuable message to his team.

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On the field, Washington trounced the Mets 9-3 in Port St. Lucie. Mike Morse hit two two-run HR for the Nats - one off Taylor Tankersley, the other off Ryota Igarashi. Mike Pelfrey went 3 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 runs, just one earned because of an error by Luis Castillo. Pelfrey thought his secondary stuff was especially sharp this early.

Jason Isringhausen and Mike O'Connor each threw a scoreless inning in relief - D.J. Carrasco gave up two runs in two innings. Angel Pagan homered after muffing a very tough chance on the first ball hit to him in center, Ruben Tejada went 2-2 with 2 RBI, and Fernando Martinez had two more hits. Daniel Murphy played an exceptionally sharp defensive game at 3B and also doubled.

Over the weekend - on Sunday, Russ Adams hit a 3-run HR and Murphy doubled in two more to lead the Mets over the Braves 5-4 at Disney World. Chris Young and Boof Bonser both pitched two scoreless innings, and Pat Misch picked up the win by finishing the game with 3 scoreless innings. Oliver Perez was up to his old tricks, yielding all 4 Atlanta runs in two innings, walking three in a row at one point. The Mets also took on the University of Michigan at home with Chris Capuano throwing 3 innings of 1-run ball. Dillon Gee had 4 strikeouts over 2 1/3 hitless innings and Jason Bay had a 2-run single.

On Saturday, the Mets and Braves played to a 5-5 tie at Digital Domain. Jenrry Mejia pitched well, Fernando Martinez added a 2-run HR, and the Mets had two game-tying hits in the 9th and 10th innings - one a Jordany Valdespin double, the other a 2-run HR by Willie Harris.

On Tuesday, the Mets take on the Nationals again, this time in Viera. Jon Niese goes against Livan Hernandez - Frankie Rodriguez is expected to make his first appearance of the spring.

C U soon
Eddie C.

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