Rays' Molina makes framing pitches an art

PORT CHARLOTTE They squat through the air with the greatest of ease.

We give you the amazing Catching Molinas.

The middle Molina, 36-year-old Jose, has joined the Rays. His older brother, Bengie, is retired. Jose's kid brother, Yadier, just won a second World Series ring with the Cardinals.

Imagine family Thanksgiving at the Molinas.

You put down one finger for turkey and two for gravy.

By the way, Molina brothers are apparently constitutionally bound to win a second World Series ring. Bengie and Jose each own two. They traveled between Missouri and Texas last October to follow Yadi and the Cardinals overcome the Rangers. There has been a Molina brother in seven of the past 10 postseasons and the past three World Series. Jose even backed up Bengie in 2002 for the world champion Angels.

Rays pitchers, already part of one of the majors' best staffs, still are pumped to be aiming at a Molina glove.

"I can't wait to throw to him," Rays pitcher James Shields said.

Understand: Jose Molina is a career .241 hitter. He is the lightest Molina bat in the rack, a big reason why he has been a backup in his 10-year career. He has never started more than 81 games in a major-league season.

But you get professionalism with any Molina. You get stocky and slow when you get a Molina, no matter what their size. (Jose is the tallest at 6-2). But you get defense and more defense. You get a technician. A Molina blocks potential wild pitches, throws out runners, a lot, and frames pitches as if it were an art, turning just outside or inside to strike three. You can count on that. Molinas give you pride, in their craft, in one another.

"I do my job," Jose Molina said. "That's the only thing."

Sure, but three of them — three catchers?

"It is pretty freaky, and to be that good, too . . ." Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

"It's great, it's awesome, unbelievable, hard to believe," Jose Molina said. "I think that's just the way our parents raised us. When you give everything in good heart, I think good things happen, and I think that happened to our family."

When he was with the Blue Jays, Jose Molina threw out four Rays in one game, nailing Carl Crawford twice. In the past four seasons, Molina has been the toughest catcher in the majors to steal on. That's a potential gift of gold to a team built on pitching and defense.

"Obviously, what I've heard from other players on other teams, his game-calling is superb, and from what I've seen from the other side, his receiving is unreal," Shields said. "He gets strikes that might not be strikes on a normal basis for other catchers. Any time you put a Molina back there, you should be in good business."

As good as Jose has been behind the plate, Bengie and Yadier have the Gold Gloves. And Bengie hit a huge postseason homer off the Yankees in the ALCS a few seasons ago. Yadi helped send St. Louis to the 2006 World Series with a homer in NLCS Game 7 against the Mets.

Then again, in 2008, Jose was the last person to hit a homer in the old Yankee Stadium, a proud moment. But the spotlight has focused more on his older and younger bros.

Understand: Jose Molina crouched first.

"I started catching about 13, 14," he said. "I've always been the catcher. Bengie played a different position before becoming a catcher. Yadi, he played third base until he was 14 or 15."

Their father, Benjamin Sr., was a ballplayer (infield) and then a factory worker. He died in 2010, while manicuring a baseball field between games of a youth doubleheader, the same field where his sons learned the game. And pride.

Maddon worked with Jose Molina with the Angels.

"I think it's a combination of where he's been before he got here, and I think there's a lot of competition within the family, obviously, and I'm sure that sparked him a bit," Maddon said. "He always wanted to be considered more of an everyday player instead of a backup. He's driven from all sorts of sources. I think that's where the edge has been created in him."

We give you Jose, one of the Catching Molinas.

The score is 2 to 2 to 2 in rings. They're tied in pride, too.