The Keys to Success: Los Carloses

(Note: A piece by Cheddar Ben follows this one from Sip.)

Chicks dig the long ball. But pitchers are scared shitless of it.

Here in lies the main difference between 2006 and 2007.

The pitching in '07 has been as good if not better. The bullpen has slipped a little bit from innings 6-8 but Billy Wagner has been almost perfect.

There is one major difference in the Mets from this season and the Mets from '06.

Their name is Carlos.

The brothers Carlos, Beltran and Delgado, have been a shadow of their former selves. And so the Mets struggle.

On Monday I watched the Devil Rays play the Diamondbacks. Two teams with a combine zero legitimate power threats between them. I watched the game and never saw a nervous situation.

When you face the Phillies, you never want to get to the spot where Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are coming to the plate.

Against the Sox it is Ortiz and Manny.

Against the Yankees you can really pick your poison.

Against the Braves it's Chipper and Andruw Jones.

Last season, when you faced the Mets, you saw Beltran-Delgado-Wright. Opposing pitchers were terrified. It is one thing to face one big bat but something else entirely to face three absolute monsters.

You have no idea how good our sluggers are till you spend everyday in an NL west ballpark.

In '06, when our big three was on, not only were they generating a ton of runs, but they were also helping out the rest of the lineup. Pitchers breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Xavier Nady or Endy Chavez and both guys had monster years.

This year, the slumps of Beltran and Delgado have been lengthy. When guys slump so badly for so long, pitchers who face them are naturally less concerned. And all of a sudden the lineup grows a little thin.

Over the last couple of games, Carlos Delgado has shown some signs that he is waking up. In this blogger's opinion, he is the key to the lineup.

Carlos Beltran struggles most when he feels the pressure. He sucked in '05 when he was in the new spotlight of NYC. Last year, the expectations were down and he glided to an MVP caliber sesaon. This year, with expectations higher than ever, Beltran has again struggled.

Beltran is the "PERFECT" 2 hitter and a very good 3-hitter.

I love to compare him to Kevin Garnett in basketball. Kevin Garnett is not a great scorer. He is not a great shooter and does not have a great post game.

He is simply so unbeilievable talented that he scores 20 ppg, year in and year out. But KG has only come close to winning once. That was the year when he had Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell scoring the basketball. KG did not have to play away from his game. He did not have to focus on scoring. He could simply focus on doing what he does best -- a little bit of everything. This is why I hope he goes to the Celtics and plays with Paul Pierce. I think that team wins the East with ease.

Like Garnett, Beltran's two best seasons came when he wasn't forced to shoulder the load. In '04 he in front of Berkman and Bagwell's 230 RBI (granted, only for half a season). The same happened in '06 in front of Delgado and Wright's 230 RBI.

Carlos Beltran is not a power hitter in the classic power hitting sense. He is not 6'4, 250 LBS and he does not have a long swing.

He is simply so talented at baseball that he is capable of putting up sensational power numbers. He hits 30 home runs because of natural talent. In my opinion, though, Beltran is best when he is being Carlos Beltran, "5 tool baseball player."

Let him play his game, even if that is not what is expected from a 119 million dollar guy. Let him sacrifice when there are runners on 1st and 2nd. Let him take a pitch to allow a batter to steal a base and let him bunt for a base hit.

This is what he does best.

He is the most complete player in the game. His all around talent is unmatched when it comes to overall tools.

But when Carlos Beltran needs to be "Carlos Beltran, Superstar in New York City," that is when he is taken out of his game and he struggles.

This is why Delgado's success is so huge. When Delgado provides the power, Beltran can just be Beltran. He can be Scottie Pippen or Kevin Garnett of baseball. He is the perfect complement. With that, the power will come. But it will come naturally instead of being forced.

This all happen in 2006. We are potentially on the brink of it in 2007. If this happens, then opponents beware.

The Mets are the best team in the National League East with their two most dangerous bats in multi-month long slumps.

This could get sexy.

VCD,
Sip

(Pics courtest of MLBlogs.com, photobucket.com, answers.com)