The 3,000-Hit Club

Who said the Mets didn’t accomplish something this year?

While fans licked their wounds, Jeff Wilpon slandered other teams’ medical staffs and the writers commissioned sculptures of Derek Jeter, not one but two round-number milestones in Met history were toppled in the same week, and nobody even noticed.

Until now.

Congratulations to Carlos Beltran and David Wright. Your acts of tepid batsmanship as the season ground to a forgettable close resulted in the 3,000th all-time Mets hit for each of your respective uniform numbers. And your pursuit of this glory in the season’s final week made for a thrilling down-to-the-wire chase that went similarly unremarked upon.

Beltran reached the magic number Sept. 25 in Florida, when his single off Ricky Nolasco marked the 3,000^th all-time safety for the No. 15 jersey. Three nights later in Washington, Wright rapped a double to right field off Ross Detwiler, marking hit No. 3000 for the No. 5s.

Wright then proceeded to out-hit his teammate 6-to-5 over the final four games, leaving No. 5 ahead of 15 by a single hit, 3,006-3,005.

Wright, who already is the Mets’ all-time leading No. 5, made good strides to tighten the overall race while Beltran was limited to 100 hits and Jose Reyes, representing the leader, No. 7, added only 41 hits the total in ’09. Also notable: Luis Castillo in No. 1 outhits the combination of Ramon Castro, Argenis Reyes and Anderson Hernandez in No. 11 to overtake fourth place.

Top Numbers by Hits, through 2009:

No.      Hits      Leader

7          3,441   Kranepool (1,252)

5          3,006   Wright (983)

15        3,005   Grote (994)

1          2,743   Wilson (1,112)

11        2,739   Garrett (667)

4          2,587   Dykstra (469)

12        2,542   Stearns (636)

9          2,519   Hundley (590)

17        2,509   Hernandez (939)