One Molina gets a contract, another gets a ring

Jose Molina

The Blue Jays are keeping a Molina brother behind the plate for another season.

As Jose Molina discussed his new contract with the Toronto team, his older brother and former-Jay, Bengie, was preparing for the first game of this year’s World Series.

The oldest Molina will be awarded a World Series championship ring this off-season no matter what happens, after being dealt to the Texas Rangers at this year’s trade deadline from the San Francisco Giants, with whom he spent the last three-and-a-half seasons.

His second ring will match the total of those held by Jose, who won a championship with the Yankees last season, and another alongside Bengie, with the Angels in 2002.

When the Molinas won with Anaheim, Bengie faced the Giants in a championship situation for the first time, but it was long before he joined the San Francisco squad.

Yadier Molina

Yadier, the youngest of the three baseball brothers, won his own championship in 2006 with the Cardinals.

Bengie received a standing ovation during his introduction at Game 1 on Wednesday night at AT&T Park from Giants fans.

The Giants traded the 36-year-old Molina to Texas in order to make room for their prized prospect, Buster Posey, behind the plate. Texas needed some help with their platoon catching situation, where Bengie shares time with Matt Treanor.

All the time Molina spent behind the plate in San Francisco might be helpful to his new team on their quest for the championship. In Game 1, the catcher went 2-for-4 with a double for Texas, despite being worried about facing Giants’ pitching prior to the matchup.

Bengie Molina

“It’s going to be very hard,” Molina told the Associated Press before Wednesday’s game. “It’s kind of weird to go back and try to face them. It’s not easy at all. It’s actually harder because you over think yourself a lot of times.”

Bengie hit .333 (10-for-30) in 10 playoff games for Texas, prior to the championship. The catcher hit two home runs with seven RBIs over that span, after only notching five homers in the regular season.

He also had the go-ahead three-run home run in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium.

While Bengie will become a free agent when the season ends, his 35-year-old brother knows that he will be donning a Blue Jay uniform for another year.

Toronto exercised the $1.2 million US club option that was a part of Jose’s contract, keeping him for the 2011 season. Jose will likely be catching behind either the hyped-up prospect J.P. Arencibia, or the 2010 all-star John Buck, who is coming up on free agency.

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By: Alexis Brudnicki
Posted: Oct 28 2010 7:46 pm
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Filed under: Baseball Sports
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