SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Opening day, with its giant flags and flyovers, is all about American spirit. This year, Robinson Chirinos is instead counting on the spirit of America.
On March 29, Chirinos will be behind the plate for the Rangers' season opener with Houston at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Meanwhile, in Houston, his sister Rusmery Thais Chirinos de Blanco will be pleading for the safe refuge of political asylum in the United States. She will tell an interviewer from the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service's Asylum Office about the day last summer when gunmen held her and her family for hours inside their apartment in Maracaibo, Venezuela.