| | |  Americas & Beyond 
Bengie Molina of Texas Rangers Wins World Series Ring
 PVNN
November 02, 2010
Traded from San Francisco to Texas on July 1, Molina found himself in the unusual position of being eligible for a World Series ring with two potential participants. No matter if his team, the Texas Rangers, or the Giants had won the World Series, Bengie Molina was still a winner of the coveted World Series ring. He won his first in 2002 with the Angels.
“I just want to make sure we get it done first before anything else,” Molina said, meaning the Rangers. “For sure it would assure me a World Series ring, and that would be a happy note if I was to retire.”
Molina, 36, signed a one-year contract with the Giants last winter. He will be a free agent when the season ends.
All three of the famed Molina catching brothers have won World Series championships — Yadier in 2006 with St. Louis, and Jose in 2002 with the Angels (backing up Bengie) and last year with the Yankees.
As it is, Bengie Molina has links all over this postseason. In his career, he has caught three of the best pitchers of the remaining teams — Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay in Toronto in 2006, Tim Lincecum the last three and a half seasons in San Francisco, and now Cliff Lee in Texas. When Molina was traded, Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, told MLB.com that Molina deserved half the awards Lincecum had won in his career.
Molina was behind the plate for all three of Lee’s dominant starts this postseason, most recently his eight scoreless, two-hit innings at Yankee Stadium in Game 3. And he coaxed Colby Lewis, who was a pedestrian 12-13 this season, through eight innings of three-hit ball in the decisive Game 6 victory over the Yankees.
But in this series, Molina — who hurt the Yankees with three home runs in the 2005 division series for the Angels — was equally valuable with his bat.
“Most people that I know that played with him say that he’s the best clutch hitter they’ve ever seen,” the veteran Texas reliever Darren Oliver said. “He’s kind of proving it in the postseason.”
Molina has become a fan favorite in Texas. A fan affixed a homemade sign with a bullseye to the back wall of the second deck in left field that read, “Hit It Here #11,” a reference to Molina’s number. During batting practice, another fan held up a cutout picture of Molina on a stick. Molina, standing by the batting cage, pointed at it and laughed.
Texas Manager Ron Washington says he likes how Molina has fit in.
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