This was late one June morning in 2010, and the sweat was pouring off Carlos Beltrán as much as you’d expect it would for late spring in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Later that day, back in New York, the Mets would rally to beat the Padres 2-1 in 11 innings, and Beltrán would watch every pitch on TV, and he would eat his heart out with every one.
Beltrán was rehabbing his troublesome knees, which is why he was playing an extended spring training game at what was then called Digital Domain Park and not a real one 1,400 miles north at Citi Field. This was around the time the Mets former owner at the time, Fred Wilpon, suggested that maybe Beltrán wasn’t as hurt as he’d let on.
Beltrán smiled at that.
“I wish that was true,” he said. “I wish my knee didn’t throb the way it does now, although it’s better than it was a few months ago when it kept me up all night.”
