Though at the age of 36, Carlos Beltran isn’t nearly the outfielder he was earlier in his career with Kansas City, Houston and the Mets, Beltran has been no slouch patrolling right field for the National League Champion Cardinals, as evidenced by last night’s rib-crunching, robbery of an-otherwise-David-Ortiz-grand-slam in the second inning of World Series Game 1.
Beltran, hardly reluctant to sacrifice his body during an up and down tenure in Flushing, was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital last night, and it was only natural to fear that after 16 years chasing a ring, the 8-time All-Star’s World Series might have come to a very quick ending. It’s since been announced, however, that Beltran will be start for St. Louis tonight, a decision that comes on the heels of Sirius/XM host Steve Phillips opining that “if Beltran can play in Game 2, he shouldn’t have taken himself out of Game 1”.
Presumably, Phillips has watched the replay of Beltran colliding with the Fenway Park bullpen wall, and considers said impact to be no big deal. And yeah, compared to being hit in the face by one of Marni Phillips’ shoes, it might not hurt that much. But what sensible person — let alone a decorated collegiate athlete (cough) like Phillips — could witness such an incident, and immediately presume a player — especially one who’s waited a career for this moment — was looking for an early exit?
Not for the first time, I have to ask what qualifies the charmless, devoid of insight Phillips to be doing anything in media besides crying to Dr. Drew. He’s one of the more widely despised Mets executives of the modern era, hardly distinguished himself in print, on TV or radio with ESPN, and his well-documented zipper issues would seem to preclude him from questioning anyone else’s personal integrity. It does seem the sole criteria for continued employment at Sirius/XM’s Mad Dog Radio comes down to answering “no” to the question, “is your name Dino Costa?”