Saturday, July 17, 2010

Bengie Molina on cycle: "Being slow has never been a joke for me"

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/07/bengie-molina-on-cycle-bei...

Bengie Molina on cycle: "Being slow has never been a joke for me"

Posted at 11:02 PM on Fri., Jul. 16, 2010 

Evan Grant / Blogger 

 

BOSTON - Sure, it wounds like the ultimate punch line to the ultimate slow catcher joke. Bengie Molina pulls of perhaps the most unlikely triple in baseball history, then limps off the field with a quadriceps injury. Only thing, to Bengie Molina being slow is laughing matter.

And so Friday, in the wake of the fifth cycle in Rangers history, Molina talked more about laying it on the line than about punchlines.

"I'm not a stats guys, but this is an individual accomplishment that makes me very happy," said Molina, who went 4-for-4 with a go-ahead grand slam in the Rangers' 8-4 win Friday. "For more than eleven years, I've been criticized as the slowed guy in baseball. To pull off the cycle was personally very satisfying.

"Being slow has never been a joke for me. I don't want to be slow. I want to be as fast as I can. It's just something I don't do well. But I think I do a lot of things that pretty well. I can catch, throw the ball to second, call a game, get some hits and I'm good in the clubhouse. I don't make fun of other people for what they can't do. You have to live it to know how it feels, but it's always affected me."

Molina singled in the second inning Friday, then doubled in the fourth. With the Rangers tied at three with Boston in the fifth and struggling to find hits with runners in scoring position, Molina delivered the fifth grand slam of his career to the deepest part of the ballpark. He called the grand slam his "favorite" moment of the night because it put the Rangers ahead.

Then he led off the eighth with another long fly ball to center field that kicked off the glove of Eric Patterson. Molina had looked up at the ball going to first and slipped, injuring the quadriceps but kept pushing. The ball rolled into the triangle in center field and he reached third standing up. He came out during Chris Davis' at-bat. He will be re-evaluated on Saturday.

When he came off the field, it was to a dugout swarming with smiles and laughter, though nobody was laughing at Molina's cycle. They were laughing with him.

"We were very happy for Bengie," said 3B Michael Young. "He probably doesn't get many opportunities to hit for the cycle and I was just glad we were here to be able to shake his hand. He had a heck of a ballgame. He's been a heck of teammate. We were happy for him."


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