Three up, three down: Adrian Beltre quietly headed to Cooperstown

A look at the trending topics this week in MLB:

THREE UP

Beltre 3K: Adrian Beltre made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1998. He doubled in his first at-bat, against Chuck Finley of the Angels. Beltre has played so long and so well that he is on the verge of his 3,000th career hit, an almost certain admission ticket to Cooperstown. Of the 30 players with 3,000 hits, the ones with no Hall of Fame plaque are sinners (Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro), not yet eligible (Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki) or both (Alex Rodriguez). Add Beltre’s premium glove and renowned leadership to his consistently strong bat and he remains one of the most underrated players of his era, as evidenced over the past…