Carlos Beltran is scheduled to have an MRI today on his right knee, which he told reporters has been hurting the last week.

…jeez, maybe the Mets should just have MRI Mondays, on which the entire team rides a bus to the Hospital for Special Surgery, where they can all stand in line for a group MRI, just to be careful and get them all over with in one shot…

Beltran played DH over the weekend in Boston, while in an American League ballpark, but did some light running prior to yesterday’s game and then told Jerry Manuel he wanted to be in the starting lineup.

Beltran, as quoted by the Daily News:

“I told him, I’m gonna do everything it takes for me to be out there.  But if it’s something that I can’t tolerate, then I’ve got to pull myself from the lineup, simple as that. I don’t want to try to be a hero and then something worse happens and I end up losing a lot of games. I don’t want that to happen.”

…beltran gets knocked by lots of fans who say he is ‘soft,’ and easily begs out of the lineup because of constant nagging injuries… i have been able to see him in the clubhouse, off the field, etc., and i now realize this is not at all true… he may be physically soft, in that he gets hurt a lot, or is frequently in pain, but he’s tough as nails when it comes to working through the pain and being in the lineup… the fact that he’s often injured is just genetics, and dumb luck, but i believe the fact that he’s often in the lineup is a result of him being tougher than most people realize…