As Adrian Beltre inches ever closer to the magic number of 3,000 hits this may or may not be the highlight of this Rangers season.
Baseball has been around and keeping stats since around 1880, and when you consider what Beltre has accomplished and may continue to do before he finishes it is indeed an incredible thing to watch. Many of us have marveled not only at his hitting, because that seems secondary to the way he plays the game. He will likely finish in the rarefied company of the top 20-30 players who ever wore a uniform. Rarely in my lifetime have I seen anyone who plays the game of baseball with pure joy in their heart.
Adrian Beltre plays the game of baseball as we all did growing up playing in the sand-lot. He just goes out and has fun, with almost childlike approach. Sure he has his dance on close pitches, he loves to razz umpires calling everything outside, he even plays patty-cake with people trying to tag him out at second base. He is just a pure joy to watch!
Yet, for all of his hitting accomplishments the thing that amazes is that he plays defense really, really well. He makes amazing plays look routine, and third base is the second most difficult position to play. The way he gets along with teammates, his leadership on and off the field, give hope to every player.
As the Rangers quickly approach the halfway point in the season with a 35-35 record it is important for fans to realize that what you are seeing is historic.
The team itself has a math problem with 70 games played of 162. If 90 wins is the magic number it means the team can only have 37 more losses the rest of the way. As I rack my brain for some of the biggest comebacks in the history of baseball it has happened, and it can happen again. No team has ever come back more than 11 games behind in September, and there are still 10-days left in June. The Rangers are 11.5 back now, so there is a chance.
As Jim Carey said in the movie Dumb and Dumber, “so you’re saying their is a chance”. Yes there most certainly is a chance!
The team is getting healthy and is just now starting to resemble the team that John Daniels intended to put on the field. What better motivation for a team than to see Beltre do his thing day in day out, having fun, and just playing some baseball.
Anything is possible, after all I wonder if you had asked Adrian when his career started if he thought he had a shot at 3,000 hits. A great person once said that all of life has a rhythm. From the first beat of the heart of a new-born baby, to the sound your car makes when it running. Life stops when the rhythm goes away, that is why so many folks love music. Maybe the Rangers will find their rhythm and turn up the beat the rest of this season.
Whatever the case, history is being made every single night, enjoy the ride!
