I had hoped that Rich Harden figured it out, as he pitched like the real Rich Harden in his previous start. Looked good, looked sharp, and acted like the guy we signed in the offseason.
I hoped wrong. We got the Mark Clark version of Rich Harden on Saturday afternoon in Oakland. Which was extra annoying as his only other good start of the season was also in Oakland, he has said he loves pitching there, it’s his favorite mound. Couldn’t have figured that out this day. I think it’s time to put him on waivers. With the team doing well down the stretch, I think the time to let him figure it out on the mound is done. Put him on waivers, or better yet, try and demote him to AAA. I’m sure he technically has waivers left, but I believe he’d earn the right to refuse the assignment and become a free agent. Good. Refuse it. Done. I don’t want to see him start anymore. We need to be reasonably sure we have a chance to win when the pitcher takes the mound. We don’t have that with Harden anymore. Buh-bye.
Harden: 2.1IP, 2H, FREAKIN FIVE walks, three earned runs. 65 pitches. Ugh.
Gio Gonzalez was the flip side of that. He did pretty darned well against us, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure why he was taken out when he was. Gio went seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and three walks. Punched out two, and was at a pitch count of 113. OK that’s why – I didn’t realize it was that high until I just looked at the box score. That makes sense. :)
We picked up a single run in the 8th and 9th each against the two Oakland relievers – the one in the 8th was a home run by suddenly streaky power hitter, Taylor Teagarden. That was the only hit we got that wasn’t a single – we were shut down pretty well this game. David Murphy was the only Ranger with two hits, and Murphy has come on well lately, it’ll be hard to bench him again – the way he’s hitting, he deserves regular time.
The Rangers continue to play poorly in day games. Which makes me hope that the stink about the playoffs going to some day games doesn’t start this year. :)