Congratulations to Beltre on #400.

First off, let me say congratulations to Adrian Beltre, shown here on card 14 of the 2011 Allen and Ginter set. Beltre hammered his 400th career home run on Friday to give the Rangers a lead. unfortunately the pitching could not hold and Texas ended up losing the game. 400 dingers is a milestone though and it legitimately puts Adrian in the Hall of Fame discussion. He's definitely got a shot in my opinion. Year in and year out he's been one of the best defensive third baseman in the game and a consistent threat at the plate. Easily the best in Texas at the hot corner since Buddy Bell. If Beltre can keep it up for a couple of more years he should have enough on his resume to make a very strong case.

Secondly, I want to thank you for putting up with my pre-scheduled posts for the past couple of weeks. While the Rangers demoted Rougned Odor to the minors and overhauled their bullpen, I was on a family trip to Hawaii. Mrs. Spiff is from there and still has quite a few relatives on the islands. It was time for great-grandma to meet the grandkids she'd never seen and for the kiddos to get a feel for where mom grew up. Very enjoyable but I'm glad to be back. I intended to post while I was gone, at least on Thursdays, but the laptop I took with me developed a propensity to crash so that didn't happen. The five hour time difference didn't help either. Back in action now and looking to get on top of things. Thanks again for your understanding.