TORONTO — If, at age 38, Carlos Beltran is not the player he once was, he does not think of himself as anything other than an everyday player. He sticks to the same routine before each game, 25 or so batting practice swings from each side of the plate, just enough to keep his swing finely tuned but not so much as to wear himself out.
“You’ve got to be prepared, because you never know when the manager is going to use you in a game,” Beltran said.
That preparation was never more fruitful than Friday night, when Beltran changed the direction of a game with a pinch-hit, three-run, eighth-inning home run that delivered a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays.