I do my best to keep up with the Rangers' minor leaguers, but I had very little knowledge about Matt Harrison until tonight. The rookie, whom we acquired in a package for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay last season, could not have had a tougher assignment for his major league debut. The first place Angels. And then an hour-long rain delay. But he didn't appear shaken one bit. He looks like he's 10, so maybe that youthfulness and some adrenaline helped him.
While Harrison was working his magic (more on that later), Ian Kinsler extended his 20-game hitting streak, Michael Young went 2-3 en route to his 10-game hitting streak and Chris Davis stroked his fifth homer since being called up less than a month ago. And they did all this against an Angels All-Star with pretty decent stuff.
I couldn't believe how many youngsters we had on the field tonight. With the exception of Young, Byrd and Bradley, everyone else was under the age of 30. Harrison and Davis are 22, and Salty and Duran are 23. Crazy. Just crazy.
KISS: Harrison. You couldn't ask more of this young man in his debut. He threw 97 pitches and went 7 innings. He allowed the Angels to score just two runs on five hits and one walk. He also had one strikeout. His groundball to flyball out ratio was 9-10 -- not entirely reassuring, but he has a lot of potential. I would like him to get another look and possibly be in the rotation next spring.
MISS: C.J. Wilson. He may have gotten the save, but he didn't do it in his dominating fashion. Strikes were hard to come by and he actually walked two. He gave up one hit and then hesitated on a come-backer that could have been a game-ending double-play.
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