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Post-Game Show: Harrison Provides Lovely Parting Gift

• box score  • in-game blog

ARLINGTON _ So all those ESPN viewers in Peoria and Paducah and Pahokee hit the off buttons on their remotes late Sunday night and thought, “Those are the Rangers?”

One at-bat in, the Rangers were done playing long ball. And that equaled the scoring output for the White Sox’s entire attack as Matt Harrison doubled his scoreless streak from five innings to 10 in the 5-1 win to end a 3-2 homestand.

With four weeks of the 26-week season down, the first “month” is now over. The Rangers are 12-12 and two and a half games out of first place compared to 7-19 and seven out at this point a year ago. Next up, the first two of seven on the road at first-place Seattle, which spent 15 innings on Sunday rallying to win.

“I think those guys feel pretty good about the way they’re playing,” Ron Washington said of the Mariners, who will match their 1-2 starters Felix Hernandez and Eric Bedard against Texas’ 1-2 of Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla. “If we can get to Hernandez … he may give their bullpen a rest. If we can get him to throw a lot of pitches early, get him out of there, then it might become an advantage.”

Harrison followed Brandon McCarthy’s excellent Saturday outing by facing a Chicago lineup in which Ozzie Guillen sat usual lefthanded hitting starters Jim Thome, A.J. Pierzynski and Chris Getz along with righty Jermaine Dye, still smarting from being hit on the wrist on Saturday. Going in, righties were hitting .408 against him, lefties .217.

Harrison didn’t walk a batter for the first time this season. In 20 career Texas starts, it’s the third time that he hasn’t walked a batter in pitching at least five innings. And while either the first or second batter reached in all five innings, he found a way to escape every jam to even his record at 2-2 with a second consecutive win.

“The guys played great defense behind me,” Harrison said. “The confidence was up from the last start. And I knew when I got a guy on, I had the stuff to get guys out when I had to. And I was able to make some good pitches.”

In the fourth, with the Rangers leading 2-1, Paul Konerko doubled with one out. Harrison went 3-1 on Wilson Betemit, then got him to fly to left. Then Corky Miller did the same. In the fifth, the White Sox loaded the bases with one out. Harrison then fanned Josh Fields and got Carlos Quentin to fly to right. But the inning required 34 pitches, which took Harrison to 100 and ended his night.

Rangers hitters, as Washington put it, “picked and pecked” at John Danks for five runs in five and a third innings. Elvis Andrus’ debut as the No. 2 hitter was a success. He singled after Ian Kinsler’s leadoff home run and took second on an outfield error. He doubled in the third, stole third and scored on a single by Andruw Jones. He also bunted Kinsler over to second in the fifth inning, which allowed Michael Young to knock in the run (and end a personal 0-for-15 streak with runners in scoring position).

Washington afterward initially said he’ll keep Andrus at No. 2 against righties or lefties while Josh Hamilton is on the disabled list, then indicated David Murphy might also hit there when he starts against righties.

“Murph can bunt a little bit and pull the ball, and he can do some other things,” Washington said. “I haven’t decided, but then again I might have to leave Murph down there with Marlon around in the area where we can have somebody down in the bottom of the order that can pick up some RBIs.”

With Jarrod Saltalamacchia fully recovered from his eye ailment, the Rangers no longer need Max Ramirez as an emergency catcher. He returns to the minors, and outfielder Greg Golson was called up to fill Hamilton’s vacancy among available outfielders. He made the trip to Seattle on Sunday night after driving in from Oklahoma City.

“They told me around 2:30, during BP,” said Golson, hitting .286 with a homer and nine RBIs with the RedHawks. “I drove down. They told me there was no hurry; I was not going to dress. So I stopped in McKinney to visit a 4-month-old nephew that I haven’t seen in a while.

“I’m not expecting anything, just going to try to live in the moment. Soak it in from everyone that’s around me and make the best of it.”

Next stop Seattle, where the major league leaders in homers and slugging percentage will meet the A.L. leaders in ERA and the major league leaders in fewest homers allowed.

“It’s no more significant than playing the White Sox,” Washington said. “We played these guys in spring training, got a chance to see what they have and how they play their game. I’m not surprised at the way they’ve been playing.”