SAN DIEGO – Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron are both center fielders. They think like center fielders, they play like center fielders.
Even with Cameron in right field, his DNA registers center field: 24/7.
So when pinch-hitter David Ross lifted a looping fly ball to right-center yesterday in the bottom of the seventh of a 1-1 game, a perfectly sunny afternoon at Petco Park suddenly turned dark.
Cameron came streaming in from right, catapulting himself into a headlong dive. Beltran, hustling in from center, had a similar read on the ball and also dove into flying formation. Everyone in the ballpark, all 35,148 fans, could see what was going to happen next.
“You could see it coming together and you kind of hoped that one of them peeled off at the last minute,” pitcher Tom Glavine said after the 2-1 loss to the Padres. “They’re both center fielders, they’re both going to try and get the ball.”
The result was one of the worst collisions players could ever remember seeing. Just another example of Mets’ luck. One moment they have two center fielders, the next moment they have none. It’s also shows why it is not always a great idea to play two center fielders in one outfield. They both think every ball they can get to is their ball.
Noted Mike Piazza, who watched it all unfold from the bench: “That was one of those Bermuda Triangle balls. In most circumstances there, one of them obviously would give way to the other.”
In this circumstance, though, these two proud center fielders only had one mission: Catch the baseball.
As they came together in a vicious collision, Cameron and Beltran slammed heads. Beltran took the hit on the left side of his head and gave way, Cameron delivered the blow face-on, driving Beltran to his right. A groan erupted in the stadium. Then there was stunned silence. Ross wound up with a triple as second baseman Kaz Matsui ran out to retrieve the baseball and threw it back to the infield.
Cameron was flat on his back. Beltran was in a heap behind him. Slowly Beltran showed movement. After a few minutes, a bloody-faced Cameron rolled over onto his left side. Cameron wound up with a slight concussion, a broken nose, and multiple fractures of both cheek bones. He is on the disabled list and spent the night at nearby Mercy Hospital.
Beltran has an aching left shoulder and a cut on the left side of his head. He was taken to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla for a CT scan.
“I could hear the crunch when they hit,” Floyd told me later in a quiet corner of the clubhouse. When Floyd looked over from left field and saw Cameron, his best friend on the team on the ground, motionless, he lost it. “Cam’s nose was messed up, blood was coming out of his nose. His mouth was messed up. His whole grill was messed up. It’s amazing you could hit heads like that.
“I was choked up, I was struggling once I saw the blood,” Floyd added. “That messed me up. I was choking up, fighting back tears. Cam’s laying on his back, who’s to say you can’t break your neck?”
Eventually, Cameron was strapped down by medical personnel and removed by stretcher on a cart. He received a standing ovation from the crowd. Two batters later a soft, two-out single to center by Joe Randa scored pinch-runner Damian Jackson to give the Padres their 2-1 lead. The Mets lost a game and two center fielders on one play.
The Mets went West hoping to make the most of a wild card run. Now they’ve lost two of three games here and their two center fielders. They go into L.A. tonight in shock. In the top of the eighth, Floyd was hit in the left knee with a pitch by reliever Akinori Otsuka. He may also miss tonight’s game.
“This was a terrible day,” Floyd said as he limped out of the clubhouse. “Just terrible.”
Amazin’, how a day, and perhaps a season, can turn on one play.