Carlos Beltran hurt after Game 1 of the World Series

After 16 seasons in the majors, 2,064 regular season games and many postseason heroics, Carlos Beltran experienced his first Fall Classic last night; unfortunately for him, that experience lasted just two innings. Beltran chased after a David Ortiz would-be grand slam in the second inning and made a terrific catch at the wall just as he crashed into it.

Pay per head services noticed that Carlos Beltran was in obvious pain after the dramatic catch, which proved to be a long sacrifice fly that gave the Red Sox a 5-0 lead. At the end of the inning he went to the locker room and was replaced in the lineup by Jon Jay.

The Cardinals, who committed three errors in the 8-1 loss, announced that Beltran suffered a right rib contusion and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

Whether or not he misses any time remains to be seen. The latest update said that X-rays and a CT scan came back negative, and the All-Star is considered day-to-day.

The Cardinals have a strong lineup, they led the National League in runs during the regular season and welcomed the return of Allen Craig, who served as the designated hitter in his first game suffering a foot injury on September 4, but they recorded only one extra-base hit in the Series opener (Matt Holliday’s home run in the ninth inning) and struck out 10 times.

Without Beltran’s opportunistic bat it would be almost impossible for them to avenge their World Series loss to the Red Sox nine years ago. Beltran is batting .337 and he has an amazing 1.173 on-base plus slugging percentage in 45 career postseason games before last night and his 16 postseason home runs rank eighth all-time. Hopefully he can take more at-bats in this series, I’m not a fan of either team but I can say I’m a Carlos Beltran fan.