Another Rangers Rookie Shows Strength of Farm System

Jon Daniels pulled another rabbit out of his minor league hat.

Rookie Matt Harrison, just called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City, threw seven strong innings as he out-dueled All-Star Joe Saunders to earn his first major league victory.

This victory came at a time when the Rangers need for quality pitching is a must. After this series with the Angels, they face yet another first place team in the Chicago White Sox this weekend.

Harrison, acquired from the Atlanta Braves last summer in the Mark Teixeira trade, offered a bit of relief to Rangers fans after Eric Hurley was placed on the DL with a strained hamstring.

The rookie left-hander, who had to wait nearly an hour to pitch due to a rain delay, allowed only two runs in his first start.

Harrison wasn't the only Rangers rookie to make some noise. Chris Davis sent his fifth home run over the fence in center field to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Josh Hamilton added two RBI to up his major league leading total to 87 and Ian Kinsler extended his hit streak to 20 games with a double to right-center in the sixth inning. Kinsler is now batting .337 on the season as he continues to show why he should be the All-Star starter at second base.

Jon Daniels seems to have figured out this whole General Manager gig. The Rangers battery, Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, were both parts of the Teixeira trade. Two more pieces of that trade, 20-year-old Neftali Feliz and 19-year-old Elvis Andrus, are currently at Double-A Frisco and two of the organizations top prospects.

Vicente Padilla has been scratched from his start tonight and another rookie, Michael Ballard, will be given a chance to further prove the depth of the Rangers minor league system. In his last start, Ballard threw 8.1 innings while giving up one earned run and striking out six.

Hopefully Jon-Boy will continue to keep up this magic show.

All-Star Selections Overshadow Successful Rangers Road Trip

p>Four wins. Four all-stars. For this Rangers fan, that equates in to a fairly successful road trip.

Our Rangers made their last ever regular season trip to Yankee Stadium this past week. For Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, and Milton Bradley, they have at least one more time to visit.

They will make the trip to the Bronx later this month as they have been selected to represent the Texas Rangers in the mid-summer classic.

Perhaps the most deserving and unappreciated Ranger is Ian Kinsler. His production from the lead-off spot this year has been nothing short of spectacular.

Kinsler leads the American League in hits, extra base hits, runs, total bases, and stolen base percentage (23 out of 24) just to name a few. I guess we know who is accounting for the majority of Josh Hamilton's RBI this season.

One of the biggest adjustments Kinsler has made this year is his willingness to take a pitch up the middle or to right field. Remember last year when Kinsler started on a tear hitting all those home runs in April and then struggled to keep up that pace?

Now he is simply letting the ball get deeper in the zone and taking it wherever the pitch is placed. I wonder if he picks Michael Young's brain about any of this.

The Texas Rangers return home to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington tonight to face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a four game series in an extremely pivotal AL West matchup.

We need to bring out the brooms. As of today, the Rangers are 7.5 games back of the Angels. With a sweep, it would bring that number to 3.5 games.

The Angels possess one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball and have three pitchers in this month's all-star game.

What will prevail between this matchup? Big bats or power pitching? Hopefully the well documented "jet stream" at the Ballpark will help some of those Rangers hitters climb ever closer to the AL West lead.