SEATTLE — Maybe the most entertaining thing about Monday's 6-1 loss for the Texas Rangers was Adrian Beltre's interaction with Seattle ace Felix Hernandez.
The relationship between the two goes back to Beltre's playing days in Seattle. When Hernandez came up in 2005, Beltre took him under his wing.
Now the two have a friendly rivalry with Beltre's goal to hit a homer and Hernandez trying to strike him out. The two talk constantly to each other during games and Monday was no different as Beltre went 1 for 4 off Hernandez.
"We understand each other pretty good," Beltre said. "We both started it. It's on weeks before, months before and right after the game and during the game. It's always fun. He was talking smack again and I was talking smack back."
Beltre spit on the ground after one conversation but it wasn't a slight against Hernandez, just his changeup.
"He said he was going to strike me out and I said his changeup is (bad) and I spit on that," Beltre said.
While Hernandez beat the Rangers last night, Beltre got the best of him last year by hitting his first homer off him. Hernandez has something special planned the next time he strikes out Beltre.
"He said he's going to dance on the mound and I didn't give him that opportunity yesterday," said Beltre, who is 3 for 13 against Hernandez with four strikeouts. "Last year I took him deep and I was yelling at him the whole way. I told him I was going to take him deep and I did. He was smiling. He took it like a man. When he strikes me out I'm going to have to take it like a man. Hopefully it won't happen."
