Programming note: Tune in to Giants October Quest, today at noon leading up to the first pitch of Game 3, and tune in again following the final out for highlights and interviews, only on Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area!
ST. LOUIS ? Catchers are getting a lot of attention in this NLCS, and for good reason. Buster Posey and Yadier Molina are team leaders, All-Star backstops and are likely to appear at or near the top of most National League MVP ballots.
It?s an even more intriguing matchup when one of them is your former prot?g? and the other is your kid brother.
?I tell you, this is a privilege for me,? said Bengie Molina, Yadier?s oldest brother and Posey?s forerunner behind the plate for the Giants. ?And not just for me. This is a privilege for anyone who enjoys the game of baseball. It?s a joy to watch these two kids compete.
?These are two catchers who can play the position and call a great game. But it?s not just that. They can hit, too. They can do everything. That right there is the beauty of baseball.?
It?s a beauty that Bengie Molina appreciated early on. The day the Cardinals drafted Yadier in the fourth round, Bengie predicted that his brother would become a superstar and the best, most accomplished of the three catching Molina brothers. In 2009, just a week into Posey?s first big league spring training camp, Molina understood that this clean-cut, bright-eyed kid from Florida State would take his job very, very soon.
It came quicker than anyone anticipated; the Giants shipped out Bengie a month ahead of the trade deadline in 2010 to the Texas Rangers. Then Posey?s Giants tore through Bengie?s Rangers in the World Series.
Yet Bengie never spoke a jealous or resentful word about Posey, whom he still considers a friend.He has to be honest, though, when asked where his loyalties lie between the two catchers in this series.
?Everybody knows what I think of Posey,? Bengie told me by phone. ?He?s a great, great catcher, he calls a great game and I knew this kid would be a superstar the first time I saw him. But I don?t think he?s up to the defensive skills of my brother yet. My brother is in another league, and plus this year he really hit when the team needed him to hit.
?Posey can get there. I?m not putting him down at all. He has all the talent and he will work hard, I know that. But nobody is in a league with my brother.?
The Molina brothers will gather in Puerto Rico next month when their mother, Gladys, turns 65. They would like nothing better than to celebrate another World Series champion, too.
If the Cardinals go all the way, it would be Yadier?s third World Series ring and the seventh among all three Molina brothers. (Jose won in 2002 as Bengie?s backup with the Angels, and also in 2009 with the Yankees. And the Giants mailed a ring to Bengie for his contributions in the first half of 2010.)
Bengie left no doubt: That?s what he hopes will happen.
?Hey, against the Reds, I was all Giants, man ? all Giants,? Bengie said, with a chuckle. ?Against the Cards, I?m all Cards. I love the Giants, I love the city and I love the fans, man, they have something special there. But I?ve got to root for my brother, 100 percent, they?ve got to understand that.?
Bengie cannot help but pull for Posey, though, and not just because he respects him as a player and a person. Like many others, he was floored at Posey?s determined recovery from the devastating ankle injury that ended his season in May of last year.
?Very impressed, very impressed,? he said. ?It tells you -- it shows you -- what kind of a player and a person he is. It shows you his demeanor and dedication and his motivation to come back from that devastating injury, and not come back to play first base, but to catch. He?ll be the MVP of the league.
What he did is unheard of, it?s crazy. But this is not new for him. When I saw this kid, I think he can do anything.?
Bengie was quick to point out that Yadier is just as deserving of MVP consideration.
?Especially for what he did for that team after losing (Albert) Pujols, and with a new manager,? he said. ?But if Buster wins it, that is a good choice, too.?
What impresses him most about the way his brother receives the Cardinals staff?
?It?s the way he cares,? Bengie said. ?It?s what we used to discuss all the time. I tell him, `Everyone wants to be their best out there, but you have to be the best for yourself and you have to make every pitcher on the staff be their best, too.? That?s what impresses me. He makes everybody great.?
Bengie said Yadier expressed frustration to him in recent days about his lack of hitting in the postseason. He had a breakout year at the plate (.315, 22 home runs), but owns just a .138 average in the No.5 spot with just two RBIs in seven postseason games.
?Hey, I told him, `Win a game with your catching,?? Bengie said. ?If you hit three bloopers and go 3 for 4, does that make you a great hitter? No. So don?t worry about what the numbers look like. Just be positive.?
That?s precisely the kind of message Bengie would deliver to Tim Lincecum on the mound during both the right-hander?s Cy Young seasons in 2008-09. It?s the kind of rah-rah cheerleading that comes less natural to Posey, which is among the reasons that a struggling Lincecum has been paired so often with backup catcher Hector Sanchez in this wild aberration of a season.
What advice would Bengie give to Buster about catching Timmy?
?Well, one of the things you have to know about Timmy is you have to keep him very positive and very up,? he said. ?It?s about keeping him on the right track instead of letting things going through his head.
?You have to talk to him almost every inning and keep him up to the challenge and keep him happy. It?s a psychologist sort of thing, but as a catcher, you do that with every pitcher in different way. You have to psyche him up to go out and pitch.
?You?ve got to suck up your pride and go to him an say, `Let?s go.??
Giants manager Bruce Bochy continues to insist that it?s his preference, and nobody else?s, that Lincecum and Barry Zito work primarily with Sanchez. The manager only started Sanchez once this postseason, when Zito started Game 4 of the NLDS at Cincinnati and Lincecum came out of the bullpen to throw 4 1/3 solid innings. Lincecum threw to Posey in his two other relief appearances this postseason, tossing a total of four scoreless innings.
Bochy hasn?t named Lincecum the Game 4 starter yet, nor is he committing to a batterymate whenever Lincecum or Zito take the mound again.
Bengie was blunt, though: It?s high time that Posey and Lincecum, the Giants? two highest profile players, work together again.
?If you ask me, they need to stop this,? Bengie said. ?I understand they are keeping Posey healthy by having him play first base and not catch all the time. But there will come a day when Brandon Belt says, `This is not fair. I want to be out there.? And then you?ll have trouble.
?They need to take control and say, `Buster has got to catch Timmy and that?s it. I want to keep everybody happy, but this is our team.??
For now, only one of these two teams ? and one of these two All-Star catchers -- can advance to the World Series. Even in retirement, Bengie watches his brother and his former understudy and feels the stirrings of being an active player once again.
?Those guys, they wanted to learn so much,? he said. ?Now they are so good, there is nothing left to teach them.?
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