In a city where sports stars can cross over into a celebrity, paparazzi world ? just ask Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter ? Beltran flies gracefully under the radar.

"I don?t like controversy," Beltran said ? fittingly sitting alone in front of his locker as crowds of media huddle around other players. "There?s people that like it. They just want attention. I don?t care about attention."

Jose Reyes is the acknowledged player who makes the Mets go. David Wright is the face of the franchise. Johan Santana the ace. Carlos Delgado the power. And Beltran? Perhaps his defining moment remains looking at a called third strike to end the 2006 posteason dream.

But Beltran is content; happy in his quiet, almost anonymous success.

"I was talking to my wife the other day," Beltran said. "I said, ?You know what, it?s been five years already, and it?s like time is flying. At the same time, even though I?ve gone through bad times here, being booed, all that kind of stuff, early in the year, I don?t see myself playing in another city.

"I see myself playing in New York. I like the challenge. I like the challenge of going out there every day and maybe you have a bad month and being able to recuperate from that. I believe that if you are capable of having success here in New York, you?re going to have success anyplace else."

While that sentiment may have been said first by Frank Sinatra, Beltran has made it in New York surprisingly well for a player who is quiet by nature and grew up in Baseball with the Kansas City Royals.

As a free agent, he never hesitated to head for the major media market, taking the Mets ? money while also soliciting the Yankees. While the search for the top dollar may have been orchestrated by his agent, Scott Boras, who rarely leaves a dollar on the table, Beltran knew what he was getting involved with.

"I knew that it was going to be different," Beltran said. "I wasn?t worried at all. I knew there was going to be more attention for sure. Where I played [in Kansas City], a bad day, it wasn?t that bad. Here a bad day is a bad day. They make it real bad.

"I don?t read papers. As a player I know when I?m doing good and I know when I?m doing bad. So when I?m doing good, people call me ? my parents call me and they say, ?Hey, I read this about you,? and it?s great. When I?m doing bad I don?t want to see in the paper that they?re talking about me because I know that I?m not doing great. At the same time, I don?t get caught up in who is on the back page, who is on the front page."

Beltran?s notoriety has come mostly in the negative ? an oddity for a player who has put up his numbers. His first year in New York he struggled, but it was because of playing through a quadriceps injury, not mental fatigue. He refused to sit out and it showed in his numbers as he hit only 16 homers and drove in 78 runs. Since then he has averaged 33 home runs and 113 RBI per season ? while winning a Gold Glove each year.

He might have been able to avoid the negativity in 2005 ? and the booing that descended on him ? if he had spoken up or sat out. But he didn?t.

"I played through it and did it myself," he said. "I didn?t want to come out and let everyone know. That?s not me. That was my decision. I decided to play like that. Things went the way they went. It was a learning experience for me.

"The next year I think I came back and did my job and since then I feel my numbers have been good numbers here in New York. Even though we haven?t been able to accomplish what we need to, go to the playoffs, try to win a championship, I like it here, man. I like it."

He has two more years on his contract after this season, but plans to finish up his career with the Mets . Quietly.

"My wife, sometimes she says to me, ?You have to talk a little bit more,? " he said. "I talk, and when I talk, I talk from my heart. Here, not everything that comes in your head you have to say. Sometimes you might say one thing and then people receive it in a different way, they put it out, and they make you feel like you say something negative about the team. That?s not me. ? But at the same time, controversy, that?s not my style. That?s not me."