Beltran takes home the GOLD GLOVE baby!

Bryan Hoch at Mets.com, writes about Carlos Beltran and him winning the Gold Glove for Center Feild:

Carlos Beltran has often been named as one of baseball's top defensive outfielders. The next time he patrols the Shea Stadium outfield, he'll have some serious hardware to back up that reputation.

The 29-year-old center fielder was rewarded Friday for his excellent efforts with a 2006 Rawlings Gold Glove Award, an honor bestowed among the top defensive players at each position in the American and National Leagues.

The award is the first Gold Glove of Beltran's Major League career. He joins fellow honorees Mike Cameron of the San Diego Padres and Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves in the National League outfield.

Hampered by injuries for most of his first season with the Mets, Beltran repeatedly pointed to his improved health and increased comfort in New York as a main reason why his performance was able to reach star levels in 2006.

"When I'm healthy, I take the field confident," Beltran said earlier this year. "If you have an opportunity where there's a ball in the gap, you have a chance to get it. When you're not [healthy], you're not going to have a chance to get to it. You can't make those plays when you're hurt, because you're going to be thinking about the injury