Blue-Ribbon Play.

(Reuters Photo)

I have no idea how old the guy who does radio for the Houston Astros is. I didn't catch his name yesterday but if he's the old guy on their website, then he looks pretty old. (He also graduated from University of Iowa with a degree in radio speech which doesn't help him seem any younger.) He got names wrong and seemed a little bit too enthusiastic for a spring training game but I did enjoy listening to him. He was full of these wonderful old-fashioned phrases--he called Dustin Pedroia a pepper pot--and his command of descriptive language was really impressive--his description of Kevin Youkilis' batting stance, not the easiest thing to describe, was evocative and spot on. Anyway, the Astros made some nice plays and he called them blue-ribbon plays. And I like the phrase.

Today, Adrian Beltre turned in his own blue-ribbon play and it was quite impressive. In the fourth inning, Alex Cora hit a ground ball up the middle. It bounced off of Lackey's ankle [Aside: I'm actually starting to come around on John Lackey. Wonders never cease.] and Adrian Beltre picked it up and flung it over for the out, while tumbling to the ground. (Really, I just wanted to put that photo up because there's so much happening in it.) It seems that everyone was appreciative of the play:

Francona:

"You can tell he’s been throwing the baseball all his life. It’s a natural thing. He can throw from a number of different angles."

Bill Hall:

"That’s almost like a routine play for him. He’s bare handing that ball. That one probably has sidespin, so it makes it a little tougher to get a grip on that ball. And he’s probably throwing it without a good four-seam grip — and sidearm, and falling down. It just takes a lot of athletic ability and a lot of body control to do it."

John Lackey:

"Pretty awesome play by AB. That dude can play. He always shows off the arm. No step over to first, he’s got that one down. Guys on our team on the [Angels] bench would talk about, ‘Hey, that dude can pick it.’ It was definitely impressive to watch him play defense."

and Beltre himself:

"That’s probably my favorite play. I love to make those plays, especially when it’s supposed to be a base hit. It’s always nice to know that I can still do that. I hadn’t done it this year yet.

"I enjoy making them myself, because I’m doing something for my teammates. It makes me want to get better everyday. I want to be able to help my teammates, especially the pitchers out there, trying to do their job, which is getting groundballs, so we can do our job."