After standing pat at the trading deadline, the Rangers jumped headlong into the playoff stretch run in the thick of the American League wild-card race.
They won't be in it much longer if the pitching doesn't improve rapidly and significantly. Facing the AL's worst team, rookie lefty Matt Harrison put the Rangers in a 6-0 hole before the end of the fifth inning, and the club couldn't dig its way out. The Rangers' 5.24 ERA is the worst in the AL by more than half a run. And they fell five games behind the wild-card leader, Boston, which was idle.
"I've said all year that you don't have success if you don't pitch well," manager Ron Washington said. "When we pitch well, we are successful. We'll keep running our guys out there, and hopefully they will get better and we'll see where that gets us."
There have been two AL teams to reach the playoffs in the last 40 years with ERAs of 5.00 or higher. The 1999 Rangers' mark of 5.07 is second to the 1996 Baltimore Orioles' 5.14. But the more significant fact is that the club ranks last in ERA. During the divisional era (since 1969), no team that ranked last in league ERA reached the playoffs. In fact, none of them had winning records.
"It's going to be tough, really tough," lefty Eddie Guardado, the most experienced pitcher on the staff, acknowledged. "If our pitchers hold up and can keep us in the game, we can do it. But it's going to be tough. A lot of these guys are learning on the job."
Harrison is a perfect example of that. Thursday's start was only the fifth of his career. He is one of 12 pitchers and one of six rookies to start a game for the Rangers this season.
The Rangers will turn to the 13th overall and the seventh rookie Friday night when righty Tommy Hunter makes his major league debut. By next week, the total starter count could be up to 14, if righty Brandon McCarthy is ready.
"I just look at the experience they are getting," Guardado said. "Each time they go out there, they are getting experience. But you have to learn from it. And learning takes time."
MARINERS 8, RANGERS 5: LHP Matt Harrison allowed hits to the first three batters of the game, and things didn't get any better from there. Harrison, one of six rookies to start a game for the Rangers this season, allowed five walks in his 4 2/3 innings.
Since winning his major league debut by allowing a pair of runs in seven innings, Harrison is 1-1 with a 9.35 ERA. Perhaps of most concern is the fact he's allowed 13 walks in 17 1/3 innings while striking out only three. Harrison allowed a pair of runs in the first, two more in the second and two more in the fourth. He was removed after walking a pair of batters with two outs in the fifth inning.
