All Hail Carlos Beltran!

I don’t know about you, but I was always a big fan of Carlos Beltran. I never determined that his mega-contract was “bad,” I never called on him to be traded even before his unauthorized knee surgery, I never wrote that I don’t like the “safe” brand of baseball he plays.

Beltran hit three two-run home runs as the Mets clobbered Colorado 9-5 to take two out of three from the formerly-first place Rockies in Denver. He is the eighth Met to hit three homers in a game, and the first since Jose Reyes did it in Philly in 2006.

“He was a one-man wrecking crew today,” said David Wright, who sat out the game to rest his sore neck and back. “That’s a monster day.”

Beltran has a knack for putting together monster stretches when the times call for them. He hit like 37 home runs in the 2004 playoffs just as he was nearing free agency, netting himself many more millions from the Mets. And now that he is nearing free agency again, he is starting to hit.

This is good news for the Mets. At the least, they can enjoy a good year from Beltran before they wish him bon voyage. Or, they can trade him for a couple of prospects who could help them in the future. The latter is the likely scenario.

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Beltran made up for the power lost when Ike Davis was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left ankle sprain and bone bruise, suffered in that collision with Wright on Tuesday.

“His production is going to be sorely missed,” Terry Collins said. “He’s leading the club in RBIs by a long way. We’re going to miss the power. He’s been an outstanding defender.”

Let’s hope Davis can come back when his DL stint is done. I don’t think Beltran can keep up this pace for another 14 days.

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The Mets called up Fernando Martinez to fill Davis’s spot. This is a good move. It’s about time to find out what the perennial prospect can do. With Beltran certainly gone after this season, it would be nice for Martinez to finally show that he is ready to be a big leaguer and claim a starting outfield spot in 2012. If not, time to move on from him.