Beltre Hitting But Hurting

Since pulling up lame a couple of weeks ago and tweaking his left hamstring, Adrian Beltre hasn't played much in the field. He hasn't played on bad fields (Toronto's Rogers Centre), he hasn't played on wet fields, he hasn't played but in ideal conditions and usually at designated hitter.

In Sunday night's series finale win over the Los Angeles Angels, he was back at third base and still producing at the plate with two RBIs despite chugging along at a painful pace on a bad wheel.

The Rangers obviously trust Beltre to be smart. He doesn't try to go first to third in the seventh inning of a blowout, he doesn't dive into first base in a blowout, he plays smart and knows his limitations when he's injured.

He's now on a seven-game hitting streak with six RBIs over that same stretch and is hitting .310 on the season with six home runs and 22 RBIs.

But if there were ever a time to rest him, it's now. Put Beltre on the 15-day DL today and he'd miss a two-game series against Kansas City, a two-gamer against the Oakland A's, a three-game set in Houston, a three-game set in Seattle and a three-game set at home against Toronto. He'd be eligible to return on May 28 at home against the Mariners. That's a stretch of games where the Rangers should be able to win a good amount of games with or without Beltre.

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