MLB

Beltran exception to Mets’ tough luck

There is a curse, right? We are going to find out that Jeff Wilpon hush-hushed the building of Citi Field on a Native American burial ground or that in his spare time Willie Randolph dabbles in voodoo or that Nelson Doubleday has a secret life as a hex-spewing shaman.

Because it is becoming harder and harder to explain the misfortune that has befallen the Mets, especially when it comes to injuries. Pedro Beato is a revelation, so of course he comes down with tendinitis in his right elbow. Jenrry Mejia goes from hard-throwing hope to needing Tommy John surgery. And Chris Young, the only starter performing well for the Mets, had to be placed on the disabled list for the second time this year.

General manager Sandy Alderson made it sound like the oft-injured Young will be absent quite a while. Dillon Gee will step in, but Alderson said, “The negative is there is not much behind Dillon.” In other words, a team already lacking a legitimate No. 1 or 2 starter does not even have the minor league depth to protect all the fourth and fifth starters currently in the rotation.

BOX SCORE

Thus this is a new regime with an old problem when it comes to injuries, roster depth and bad karma.

So the fact Carlos Beltran was given a day off yesterday just to have a day off (and not because his knees are again withering) falls some place between 1969 and Bill Buckner as one of the great Mets miracles ever.

For Beltran actually had started 21 straight games — and in spring training it would have been difficult to even forecast he would play 21 games in total.

“I feel great, right now,” Beltran said. A victorious statement on an afternoon when the Dodgers beat the Mets 4-2.

After all, Beltran’s spring training was more like a preview of disability, not durability. He had spent all offseason working particularly hard on his very problematic right knee and developed tendinitis in his somewhat problematic left knee after playing one game — as a designated hitter — in early March. He did not get into an actual exhibition game at his new position, right field, until the last week of spring training and was iffy to begin the season active almost until the first pitch.

Yet here he was on Mother’s Day having played more games than any Met except Ike Davis, Jose Reyes and David Wright; second on the team in both home runs (five) and RBIs (18), producing a robust .916 OPS even after flying out to right as a pinch-hitter and the tying run in the ninth inning.

“I was a little worried at the beginning,” Beltran said. “But now I don’t even think about [knee pain].”

Like everything with the 2011 Mets, Beltran’s surprising sturdiness must be viewed in two ways: It is good because the only way this team could contend is if Beltran, Reyes, Wright, Davis and Jason Bay all hit toward their career-bests to camouflage weaknesses elsewhere, specifically with the rotation. And it is good because in the more likely situation that the Mets are not contenders, Beltran becomes a trade chip toward a better tomorrow by saving money for future payrolls and drafts or by adding prospects.

That he is moving better around right field opens up the NL as a destination and not just DH slots in the AL. If Jorge Posada, for example, continues to struggle, do you think the Yankees might like Beltran as a DH who also could play left field against tough southpaws?

“He still has plenty of bat speed,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “His swing is still pure and sweet. You can’t just go in the zone, because he is still quick.”

Of course, there is a long way to the July trade season; a lot of innings on those battered knees, plenty of time for the Mets’ negative injury mojo to strike again. But, for now, Beltran is feeling so good that he is talking about stealing some bases again (he has none so far this year).

“I am happy how it is all playing out,” Beltran said.

He is so important to the team that Terry Collins didn’t start him yesterday because the manager felt it was vital to have Beltran for all three games on the road against a better team in the Rockies. It was just a strategic off-day. Around these Mets that is resounding success.

joel.sherman@nypost.com