David Wright, Terry Collins and NY Mets wish warm welcome for St. Louis ... - New York Daily News

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Ex-Met Carlos Beltran is back in swing in return to Citi Field with world champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Another chapter in the complex relationship between Carlos Beltran and Mets fans will unfold Friday when the outfielder and his new team, the St. Louis Cardinals, arrive at Citi Field. It’ll be the first time Beltran has played a regular-season game against the Mets since they traded him last July.

Several Mets said Beltran deserves “a pretty warm reception,” as David Wright put it. Terry Collins talked about how hard Beltran always played and added, “I think the world of Carlos.” But the manager also noted, “I’m sure the reaction will be mixed.”

It will all make for a fascinating spectacle, especially considering the uniform Beltran will be wearing and, in a crazy bit of timing, the starting pitcher sporting Cardinal Red â€" Adam Wainwright.

Wainwright, as any Met fan can recount from their nightmares, is the pitcher who threw the knee-buckling curveball that Beltran took for strike three to end the 2006 NL Championship Series, crushing the Mets’ last best hope for going to the World Series. Wainwright is starting Beltran’s first game back in New York because Jaime Garcia was scratched with elbow soreness. How’s that for timing?

Fairly or unfairly â€" probably unfairly â€"Beltran’s Met career has been stigmatized by that strikeout. But as Collins and several of Beltran’s former Met teammates said, there are plenty of highlights in Beltran’s Met tenure, including his huge 2006 season when he tied Todd Hundley for the club record for homers in a season with 41.

“He had some monster years for us,” Wright said, “especially in that run we made.”

“We miss Carlos,” added Daniel Murphy. “He was a great Met and a great teammate.”

The Mets will celebrate Beltran’s good times in a short tribute video before Friday’s game, much like the one they showed for Jose Reyes when he came to New York with the Marlins earlier this season.

Beltran, who signed a two-year, $26 million deal with the Cardinals last winter, hit 149 homers, knocked in 559 runs, stole 100 bases and had a .280 average in 839 games as a Met. Some fans might dwell on his off-year in 2005, the first of a seven-year, $119 million contract, or the injuries he sustained as a Met. He also clashed with Met brass over knee surgery one year and over skipping a charity visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to attend a meeting for his own foundation.

Ex-teammates, however, will focus on his effort and talent, which is perhaps never more on display than this season. He entered Thursday as the NL leader in home runs with 15 and was second with 42 RBI. He was also hitting .294 with a .394 on-base percentage, although he’s been slowed at times by right knee soreness and only pinch-hit Wednesday, the Cards’ last game before the Mets’ series, because of it.

“He’s obviously having a great year, so I’m not that excited to see him,” Wright said, chuckling. But, he added, “It’s nice to see him healthy and doing what he’s doing, for sure.”

The Mets did not face Beltran last season after he was traded to San Francisco for uber-pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. But the Mets saw Beltran during spring training several times, so it won’t be weird for his old teammates to see him in his new threads.

Nor will they do him any favors. Once he has schmoozed with Beltran, Collins plans to concentrate on ways to stop him from hurting the Mets. “I wish him well, but I don’t wish him well this weekend, obviously,” Collins said. “He’s a tremendous player and he can’t be the guy who beats you.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re very careful when he’s up there. With the game on the line, it’s going to have to be David Freese or somebody else. And it’s not because he’s an ex-Met â€" he’s still one of the best players in baseball.

“The one thing that Carlos Beltran did while he was here, he gave them effort and no player can do more,” Collins added. “Obviously, everybody wishes that he would’ve had a career year every year and that he was hitting 40 homers every year. It’s fair to hope for, but not fair to ask that.

“I know one thing: Carlos Beltran gave these people what he had.”

Twitter.com/AnthonyMcCarron