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Wheelin' and dealin': Matt Harrison on ice The red caps with the white jerseys with the prominent red piping is a really, really good look. They went with it on July 4 and have stuck with it since. It pops. It's especially great in the day -- like yesterday -- when the suns hitting it and the players almost radiate off the green of the grass.
Keep it Rangers. Outside of a seven-game win streak, an 8-2 July and homestand and a 13-6 mark in the last stretch pre-All Star game, it's the best thing they have going.
Both -- winning, cool unis -- kept rolling yesterday in a 2-0 win over the Oakland Athletics, completing a four-game sweep. It's their second straight sweep and sixth of the season.
First, the Athletics. Every year, pundits and media folk get lulled to sleep by the Athletics. I know why: Pitching. The A's typically have quite a bit of it and most of it is pretty good. I mean, somehow they take three castaways from the Rangers and turn them into three meaty arms.
I love the pitching and defense mantra as much as anyone. Still, you need some simblance of offense. It doesn't need to be great. Many mediocre to merely good offensive teams can wreak havoc in baseball. Bad offensive teams never do.
As a litmus test, if Josh Willingham and Coco Crisp are the "meat" of your order, you are in trouble. The Athletics were practically buried this week thanks to the sweep. They're 11 games out of first place and unless a 25-year-old Reggie Jackson is waiting in the wings, they're not going to get better.
A big reason the Athletics couldn't scratch out a run yesterday was Matt Harrison, who wound down his coming-out party yesterday with 7.2 innings of shutout ball. He allowed six hits (all singles) and a walk. He struggled with his command early, but by the mid-innings, he'd found his groove and started to mow down the A's.
Most notably, Harrison worked with a 0-0 for a majority of the game. It's said that all that was lacking from Harrison was health and his head. For one half of a season, he's kept both. His ability to chill on the mound and work has meant the difference to this ball club.
With the shutout going into the eighth yesterday, Harrison worked his ERA down to 3.04. All numbers are better, as you would imagine. This includes his walk and home run rate: He's allowed about the same as he did a year ago ... in addition to 25 more innings pitched.
Notes:
1. Neftali Feliz pitched a pristine ninth. I can't imagine another non-save situation where he should be in the game, I don't care the last time he pitched.
2. Mark Lowe threw three pitches ... before Coco Crisp was caught stealing (big-kid throw from Mike Napoli, by the way). It was Lowe's only batter.
3. Josh Hamilton's woes in the daytime are well reported. He's like 1-1 billion in his last two months or whatever. Better day yesterday. He worked counts all day and primarily kept the bat on his shoulder. Like the night before, Hamilton did what Elvis Andrus did to win the game. With two outs, he works a walk. Sets up Adrian Beltre. 2-0 in a jiffy.
4. Adrian Beltre, by the way, can continue making me look like an idiot. Seventy-one RBI.
5. The Rangers (ahem ... Ron Washington) needs to dump all the sac bunts. Ian Kinsler gets on base to start the game. Elvis Andrus bunts him over. All this despite Andrus swinging one of the hotter bats on the team (he'd later double) and with a supreme opportunity to take a huge lead in the first and possibly work Trevor Cahill over a little. Also, with Hamilton's struggles in the daytime, can you necessarily count on him to get Kinsler in?
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