Beltran blasts 3 HRs as Mets beat Rockies

DENVER -- Carlos Beltran, one of the team's top trade chips, probably won't last the season in a Mets uniform. It might be a good idea, however, to hold on to Beltran until Ike Davis returns from the disabled list.

With the Mets trying to cope with the loss of their slugging first baseman, and David Wright resting his sore back, Beltran took charge Thursday by hitting a career-best three home runs that drove in six runs in a 9-5 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.

Beltran became the eighth Met to get the homer hat trick -- no Met has ever hit four -- and the first since Jose Reyes went deep three times Aug. 15, 2006, in Philadelphia.

When asked if he finally is having fun again on a baseball field after battling knee problems the previous three years, the usually stoic Beltran flashed a wide grin.

"It's been a long time," he said. "Every time you win, you feel good about it. But being able to do something like this, I feel like a little kid. Honestly, I was smiling. I never smile a lot, but I was smiling, I was happy. It was great."

In the first inning, Beltran hit a two-run shot off Ubaldo Jimenez that traveled roughly 425 feet into the pine forest beyond the centerfield wall.

Against lefthander Franklin Morales in the seventh, he pulled a line drive that reached the leftfield bleachers in a blink.

"I liked that one the most," Beltran said.

Even after a two-homer day, Beltran came to the plate with a purpose in the ninth inning. He remembered that Matt Lindstrom struck him out Tuesday night and told Willie Harris at the bat rack, "There's going to be some revenge against this guy."

Beltran went up looking for a slider -- the pitch he whiffed on Tuesday -- but Lindstrom started him with two fastballs. When Beltran got the slider, he golfed it over the scoreboard in rightfield, driving in Harris for the third time. "That's why he's 'El Caballo,' " Harris said, calling him "The Horse" in Spanish.

The Mets will look to ride Beltran in the absence of Davis, who probably will be sidelined for more than two weeks. They also played Thursday without Wright, who spent the day getting treatment on his sore lower back. "I think it's going to help quite a bit," Wright said.

As for Beltran's performance, he said, "He was a one-man wrecking crew."

It marked the second multi-homer game of the season for Beltran -- the first was April 9 against the Nationals -- and the 29th of his career. Beltran has 17 multi-homer games as a Met, tying Mike Piazza for second place on the franchise list. Darryl Strawberry holds the club record with 22.

It was the eighth time Beltran has homered from both sides of the plate in a game and fifth as a Met, tying him with Todd Hundley for the franchise lead.

"That's unbelievable," Terry Collins said. "To hit a home run to all fields, from both sides, I've never seen anything like it."

Despite concerns about his fragile knees, Beltran has helped keep the Mets afloat, batting .351 (13-for-37) with nine extra-base hits in the last 11 games.

Overall, he's hitting .294 with eight homers and 24 RBIs.

Josh Thole had a sacrifice fly and Reyes added a two-run single that chased Jimenez, who allowed five runs and walked six in 3 2/3 innings to remain winless (0-3) in six starts this season. Jason Bay snapped an 0-for-14 skid with a leadoff single that started the three-run rally in the fourth inning. Still, this was Beltran's show.

"When I said that somebody has to pick up the load," Collins said, "I didn't expect it to be all one guy."