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Good morning.
Gosh dang, I love Adrian Beltre. It's been a tough year for Beltre as his thumb injury has clearly hampered him over the last couple of months but he's obviously still capable of rising to the occasion such as hitting for the cycle last night and hitting around .350 over the last few weeks.
The Rangers are inexplicably only two games back of a playoff spot and if they somehow make it to October baseball, a big part of that will come from Beltre's existence.
Katy Clarke recaps the Rangers' 12-9 win over the Houston Astros as Texas took the opener and are now 5-1 in their last six games.
T.R. Sullivan covered the game and recaps the big moments that led to the Rangers pulling out Colby Lewis' 12th win of the season.
But the big story, as Anthony Andro writes, is Beltre being the first baseball player since the second World War to hit for the cycle three times in his career.
Evan Grant writes that Beltre's big night, and more consistent production of late, has the Rangers in the mix for a Wild Card spot.
Jeff Wilson's game story focuses on Beltre and the Rangers' offense coming to life of late.
Andrew Simon of MLB.com offers a bunch of awesome facts and stats on Beltre's historical tri-cycle and a recent surge of cycles hit by Texas Rangers.
As it should be, Richard Justice is the latest of many to write that Adrian Beltre is destined for the Hall of Fame and last night's feat just adds to his illustrious resume.
Grant updates on the catching situation as Bobby Wilson and Chris Gimenez will alternate starting with Robinson Chirinos out and Carlos Corporan rehabbing.
Cody Stavenhagen previews tonight's game between the Rangers and Astros as Yovani Gallardo tries to rebound from his least effective stretch of the season.
Kiley McDaniel has a trio of former Rangers' prospects among the top group of the 58 prospects dealt at the trade deadline.
Finally, here's some Lone Star Ball linkception but I wanted to highlight Melisa Oporto (or, you know, Moe)'s interview with Rusty Greer from yesterday in case you missed it.
Have a nice day.
