A day after Mets RF Carlos Beltran tied a club record with 3 HR’s against Colorado, The Bergen Record’s Steve Popper looked towards New York’s annual visit to the former Enron Field by asking via Twitter, “if Beltran’s performance will remind Houston fans of their silly tirades against him — most vicious homecoming I’ve ever seen.”  And yes, if you could actually call Houston Beltran’s home, I’d agree 100%.  The following comes from a July 29, 2005 CSTB post covering Beltran’s first game in Houston since his being acquired by the Mets as a free agent the previous winter :

Minute Maid was packed to the rafters with beer enthusiasts donning anti-Beltran shirts, Houston radio abuzz with accusations of “selling out”.    How many of these geniuses wouldn’t switch jobs for an extra 2 grand let alone 20 million, is besides the point because it is unlikely they’ll be offered a raise of either amount in the near future.

Says David Roth, “Who knew anyone — let alone an entire fan base — could build up so much resentment towards a guy who was with them for all of 70 or so days?”

When Jose Offerman was introduced as a pinch-hitter in the top of the 9th, the gentleman sitting to my left asked “is he still beating his wife?”

“You must be thinking of Julio Lugo,” I replied, though I was still impressed. It is hard to answer when someone stopped beating their wife.

The local comedian in charge of the “Kiss-Cam” chose to focus on Chris Woodward and Doug Mientkiewicz.   To their credit, the platonic couple fell into each other’s arms, almost on cue.

Showing that he’s not just sitting around groping Chris Woodward, Mientkiewicz warmed up Pedro Martinez prior to the home 8th inning.   That he wore no protective gear whatsoever while doing so was either very brave or very stupid, but we’ll let Woodward hassle him about that when they get back to the hotel.