Elvis Andrus: No more fun and games with Adrian Beltre

This season hasn’t gone the way any Texas Rangers fan would have hoped.  It looked to be a team that was filled with several big named players that was poised for another playoff run.  Soon the calender will flip over to September, a month were many teams will begin their final push towards a spot in the playoffs.

Instead of the Texas Rangers being in that mix of teams making their final push for a playoff spot, it appears now that they are basically about to start pushes each other.   No one will argue against the fact that this season has been a complete disappointment.  The team is in dead last and has been on this downward spiral since the end of May.  Many fans did hold on to some optimism until the All-star break, but that quickly turned to frustration.  That frustration seems also be inside, or actually on the field also with the Texas Rangers.

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Yesterday during the Texas Rangers game against the Seattle Mariners they had a 2-0 lead during the 7th inning.  It was one of those rare good outings for a Rangers starter and even more rare that it was by Miles Mikolas.  Mikolas would go on to have a very good game over 8.0 innings with only allowing 3 hits, no runs and recording 5 strikeouts.

But, having a 2-0 lead in the 7th inning isn’t safe for this Texas Rangers team.  In a story that has been written over and over again this season, the Rangers normally find a way to blow the lead and lose the game.  Either by the bullpen, fielding or act of the baseball gods they just can’t seem to win.

With one out in the 7th inning Kendrys Morales hit a towering popup just passed the infield between second and third base.  Adrian Beltre make a fake play on the ball just a few feet in front of Elvis Andrus pretending to catch the ball.  This is something the two have done numerous times over the years.  It’s almost always done with smiles, a head tap, shove and a laugh.

During yesterday’s game it was a bit different.  This time Elvis seemed to be upset and had a serious conversion about it with Beltre.  Maybe it was because the game was too close to be playing around.  Also, Andrus probably realized that their 2 run lead can quickly disappear, as it has numerous times over the season.

Elvis even went to the point to draw a line in the ground to show Beltre where he has to stay and not to cross that line.  It appeared Beltre gestured that the ball was in his area for him to make a play on it also.  Overall, this back and forth banter didn’t look like the usual fun-loving back-and-forth teammates.  This was something different.  More than likely for Andrus it is just all of the frustrations of the season coming out.

No one on this team likes where the team is at and they all know it should be better.  They have all tired very hard to turn things around, but with the rash of injuries they have suffered it has made it impossible to overcome.

Hopefully after last night’s game Andrus and Beltre got to mend fences and clear the line drawn in the sand.  Both over the years have been great players and leaders on this team.  If the Rangers are going to succeed in 2015, they’ll need to regain that and set an example for others.   If they can’t play together and have fun as a team, then there could be some serious problems over this last month that could spill over to next year.

Watch: Elvis Andrus draws the line