Would chance at 500th homer convince Beltre to return for 2019?

Only four games to go, not that anyone is counting.

The last time the Texas Rangers finished a season with an Anaheim-Seattle road trip was in 2009, my second season on the beat. I was in Anaheim, and I didn’t see any of the final seven games.

The morning of the first game of the trip, as is my norm on the road, I went to a gym to work out. Everything was going just fine until I lost my balance while doing squats.

I fell, and the weight on my shoulders fell with me. About eight hours later I was diagnosed with a broken vertebrae. If it sounds painful, it was.

That was also the final Rangers road trip in the career of Star-Telegram columnist Jim Reeves, and he and T.R. Sullivan, who for some reason had rented a mini-van, drove me to the airport the next day to pick up my wife.

Anthony Andro was summoned to Seattle for the series-ending series.

Don Wakamatsu was the Mariners manager, and Seattle went 85-77. He was fired midway through the 2010 season.

He has been the Rangers’ interim manager since Friday, and he will get an interview for the full-time gig. He’s also under contract for next season and figures to be back in some capacity.

After six games and 12 media sessions, he sounds like a guy the Rangers would want to keep around.

Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

1. The sound of the ball making contact with Adrian Beltre’s bat was a dead giveaway. The third baseman had just connected for a home run, his 15th of the season and the 477th of his career.

He became the 11th player in MLB history with at least 15 homers in as many as 18 seasons. He also inched closer to the magical, though not as magical at it once was, 500-homer plateau.

That prompted a Twitter follower, @PatHarrigan1, to ask the following: “Gotta go for 500, right?”

Well ...

The topic came up Tuesday as Beltre spoke at his locker. My tape recorder wasn’t running, so I’ll paraphrase.

He said, as he always has, that he doesn’t chase numbers. One reason he isn’t likely to chase 500 next season is the fear of coming up, like, three short. Then, he would feel significant pressure to play in 2020, and he couldn’t just retire after hitting No. 500.

Beltre believes he will finish this season far enough away that their won’t be an outcry for him to give 500 a go. With the way his past two seasons have gone, with five DL stints, there’s no guarantee the would get there.

When it comes to deciding whether to retire or return in 2019, the chase for his 500th homer won’t be a factor.

That leads to another question: Will that be the last homer of his career?

2. Yohander Mendez was pretty hot when he was removed after 4 1/3 innings.

He had just walked Kole Calhoun to put the go-ahead run at first base with Mike Trout coming up, so that might have made him angry. He’s also thrown only 76 pitches when Wakamatsu came to get him.

Pitch No. 77 came when Mendez threw his glove in the dugout. Pitch 78 was his hat.

But the inning ended well for Mendez as Connor Sadzeck, after walking Trout, got an inning-ending double play to preserve a 2-2 tie. That was broken in the eighth, when Shohei Ohtani homered off the top of the left-field wall.

The shot came off his former Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters teammate, Chris Martin.

Mendez should have been pleased considering the results of his last outing. He allowed eight runs (seven earned) Sept. 19 against Tampa Bay and didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.

The start against the Angels was his fifth since returning from the minors, and it was the fourth time he has allowed two runs or less.

With all the rotation help the Rangers are going to need in 2019, Mendez has put himself in a good position entering spring training.

3. Shin-Soo Choo isn’t going to play again until Friday, and then he is expected to play the last three games of the season.

For those who have checked out but are checking in now, Choo has struggled in the second half. He said that it’s the worst second half of his career, as he is batted only .211 with only three of his 21 homers.

His second-half slugging percentage is .309 after he posted a .506 slug in the first half en route to the first All-Star Game of his career.

Wakamatsu said that Choo has been pressing of late, so he’s getting a mental break. Choo said that he feels terrific physically after struggling with hamstring and quadriceps issues before the All-Star break.

Choo, though, will receive significant consideration from the media in voting for Rangers Player of the Year. And he’s going to be back in 2019, barring an off-season trade.

That could happen as the Rangers try to unload one of their four left-handed-hitting corner outfielders. As always with Choo, it will come down to how much of his remaining salary ($42 million) the Rangers are willing to eat.

They would have to be really hungry.