" Carlos Beltran arrived for his first game with his new team, the San Francisco Giants , Thursday and was immediately greeted by his past.

To the right of Beltran's locker in the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park was a television showing the Mets ' game in Cincinnati . To the left was the stall of pitcher Jeremy Affeldt , who was Beltran's teammate with the Kansas City Royals from 2002-04 and has worked out of the San Francisco bullpen since 2009.

So while Friday night marked a new beginning for Beltran after he agreed to waive his no-trade clause and allow the Mets to trade him for pitching prospect Zack Wheeler , he also could not help but look back on his time in Flushing .

"The years that I was healthy, I did the best I could to help the team win," Beltran said before going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Giants' 4-1 victory Friday night. "I had good years there, and unfortunately when you're hurt, there is no chance you can help the team win. I had a great time. Unfortunately, we didn't win anything. We had good teams through 2006 to 2008. I had a great time with the Mets."

The last time he was traded, from the Royals to the Astros in June of 2004, Beltran hit 23 home runs in 90 games for his new team, then eight more homers in 12 playoff games - a performance he parlayed into a seven-year, $119 million free-agent contract with the Mets. Beltran played 839 games for them, hitting .280 with 149 homers and 100 stolen bases."