Matt Harrison Scratched, Dave Bush Gets Start on Thursday

Harrison was just getting his groove back and now he’s being scratched for Thursday’s game, which begins a three-game series in Cleveland against the Indians, because of blister issues. Of course, it’s totally understandable but his replacement is simply not suitable.

Dave Bush. The guy that allowed five runs in the 14th inning of a game in the previous series against the Kansas City Royals ending in a 12-5 loss for the Rangers. Up to that point, no other pitcher had allowed any runs – on either side of the field –since the score tied until Bush gets on the mound. I stayed up until 1 am that day to watch that game play out and I just knew the Rangers were gonna get it…then I was sadly disappointed and couldn’t even watch the remainder of the game. I just went to bed completely let down.

How It Began

Last Saturday, left-handed Harrison threw six scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals. He threw a bullpen session on Tuesday of 21 pitches with tape applied to his blister. Wednesday morning, he took the tape off and played a little catch. The throwing apparently made the blister pretty raw and he was held by the training staff.

Third Spot Start

Dave Bush. The name seriously gives me a headache because all I can think about his previous performance on the mound although it wasn’t a start and was just as a relief pitcher. I just hope that we don’t see the same Bush tomorrow night that we did several nights ago against KC. Regardless, though, this will be his third spot start for the 2011 MLB season. He lasted just three innings the first time in Detroit and four the next against the Yankees. If it’s anything like the KC game, he’ll be doing good to last through the second inning.

My Opinion

If you ask me, I think the Rangers need to send someone down – like Craig Gentry maybe – and bring up Pedro Strop, Ryan Tucker or Cody Eppley just to add that extra fresh arm in the bullpen. However, Michael Kirkman was just called up and is ready to go so the move may not be essential, but I don’t know how long Bush will last out there.

And just to confirm, I realize that I shouldn’t hold one single bad inning against a pitcher. But, c’mon…it was a terrible inning! Did you see it? If you didn’t watch the game then you really don’t have any retrospect of how awful that inning was – not just for him or the fans but for the entire team.

What do you think the Rangers should do? Is the bullpen rested enough if Bush doesn’t go deep? If not, who do you think should be recalled by the Rangers?