Adrian Beltre Is The Greatest Baseball Player Ever.

Right now, I mostly just want to shred the Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for SNES theme song on a guitar. And if I could, trust me, I would. The play coming out of Adrian Beltre has me that pumped. The man has shown it all this week — stellar infielding, ridiculous consistency at the plate (he's hitting .519 for the week), plenty of power — and he even hit for the cycle for the second time in his career.

Interesting, each time he's hit for the cycle, he's done so at Rangers Ballpark. No other player in big league history has accomplished that feat twice in any one ballpark. He also joined the great Joe DiMaggio this week as one of only two players in MLB history to hit for the cycle in one game and hit three homers in another, and all within the same week.

Obviously, the MLB had no choice but to name him the AL Player of the Week. But in Our Hearts he will always be known that guy who won us the World Series.

Wait a second.

Ahem.

As for the rest of the rest the Rangers, they're not playing too shabby, either.

Collectively, the lineup hit .313 with 159 total bases in 275 at-bats over the past week. And, in the past two weeks, Your Texas Rangers have only lost two games.

Just a couple more mighty feats in their War Against the League, one assumes.

They're showing no signs of slowing, either.

Against Tampa Bay last night, the Rangers narrowly escaped a 4th inning comeback from the Rays while pitcher Yu Darvish earned a shutout and his 13th win of the season and the team edged out a two-game lead over the Yankees for bragging rights as the best team in the American League.

Yeah, this team is pretty good, huh?

• The Rangers' hottest hitter in the last seven days is, well, Adrian Beltre (.313), who had 15 hits in 29 at-bats, including that three-home-run torrential onslaught against Baltimore that even has some folks already jabbering of his status as a potential future Hall of Famer.

• The AL West-leading Rangers (77-52) own the best record in the American League. Meanwhile, they lead the Oakland Athletics by 5.5 games, the Angels by 10.5, and are one game behind the National League's Cincinatti Reds for the best record in all of baseball.

• The Rangers' pitching situation remains stable, with Matt Harrison picking up his 15th win of the season. At 26 years old, he's the fourth-youngest in ballclub history to reach that mark, just behind Derek Holland, who did it last season at 24. Speaking of Mr. Holland: He picked up his fourth straight victory on Monday, which we assume is due to the comeback of the 'stache. Has to be, right?


• Scott Feldman won six consecutive decisions in May and June, and, for that, we were bragging on him while the rest of the rotation was in a rut. But what's happened since? Four straight losses have set Feldman back to a 6-10 record, and his ERA has jumped to 4.95.

• Here's a fun fact: Mitch Moreland hit the first grand slam of his career this week against former Rangers' pitcher Tommy Hunter. Last season, he thought he had one against Oakland, but it was washed out of the record books with the rains that canceled that game.

• The Rangers made a few notable transactions this week. Early on, Michael Young was placed on the paternity list bringing, Luis Hernandez back up from Round Rock. Hernandez then went back down to Round Rock on Monday with Young's return. The Rangers also reinstated pitcher Koji Uehara from the 15-day DL, and optioned Tanner Scheppers to Round Rock. They also agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Mike Zouzalik, signing him to a minor league contract.

2383_2

2383_3

2383_4

2383_5

2383_6

2383_7

2383_8

2383_9

2383_10

2383_11

2383_12

2383_13

2383_14

2383_15

2383_16

2383_17

2383_18

2383_19

2383_20

2383_21

2383_22

2383_23

2383_24

2383_25

2383_26

2383_27

2383_28

2383_29

2383_30

2383_31

2383_32

2383_33

2383_34

2383_35

2383_36

2383_37

2383_38

2383_39

2383_40

2383_41

2383_42

2383_43

2383_44

2383_45

2383_46

2383_47

2383_48

2383_49

2383_50

No more articles