Matt Harrison was back in his early season form against Seattle last night. (Photo: Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE)

Harrison had trouble in his first and last innings, but in between was outstanding not allowing the Mariners to get much of anything going. If you take out the two hits allowed in the first and eighth innings and the two walks in the first, Harrison only allowed three hits and didn’t walk anybody else. It was the type of performance that was needed, not only for Harrison but for the Rangers. Scott Feldman is going today and isn’t completely stretched out as a starter, going 4.2 innings in his last start. Harrison held his own and everybody should be available in the Rangers bullpen today which takes a lot of pressure off of Feldman before a much needed off day on Thursday. The off day is also well placed because it gives the Rangers a complete turn in the rotation before having to make a decision on Feldman and who will replace Neftali Feliz in the rotation on a more permanent basis.

The offense was good in this one and took advantage of the opportunities they had. Elvis Andrus tripled with two men on base and Josh Hamilton followed that up with a double to score Andrus and that was all of the offense for the Rangers. That inning was started by two walks, and the Rangers only managed two other hits the entire ball game. Mariners pitching tends to have the Rangers number lately, and this was a completely different Hector Noesi than in his first start against the Rangers in Yu Darvish’s debut where he couldn’t hang on to a 5-0 lead.

Game three of the series starts at 2:40 CST and will have Feldman (0-1, 3.00 ERA/3.70 FIP) for the Rangers against Kevin Millwood (2-4, 4.17 ERA, 3.35 FIP). Millwood has struggled this season but is coming off of a four hit, complete game shutout of the Colorado Rockies — in Colorado. The former Ranger has almost cut his HR rate in half compared to the rest of his career. With a pitcher with a career as long as Millwood, you probably can’t expect that to last but Safeco Field may be just what the veteran needs at this stage in his career.

The Rangers are in the midst of a 4 game series against the Orioles, so far in three games the Rangers have lost two of them and have seemed to be in somewhat of a slump.  They still hold a 7 game lead in the American League West with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Oakland Athletics.  Seven games is quite a lead, but the Rangers do not need to be losing to last place team in the A.L. East.

Granted the Orioles have been a completely different team since former Rangers manager Buck Showalter has taken over the helm.  Since Showalter took over the Orioles have gone 12-7 quite an improvement over their 30-70 before he started.  Granted they are not going to make it to the playoffs this season, but the front office views Showalter as more of a long term solution.

The Rangers will face a familiar foe in Kevin Millwood 2-13 5.49ERA.  It is kind of humerous, the Rangers shipped him to Baltimore to free up payroll.  He has struggled throughout this entire season.  The Rangers sent Cliff Lee to the mound today, and he had his worst start of the season on the same mound Millwood has struggled all season. 

The Rangers have struggled this month, but in every season there are going to be slumps.  The Rangers need to just play .500 ball to get through the rest of season and get prepared for the playoffs.  The Rangers will send Tommy Hunter 9-2 3.71ERA to face off against Millwood at 12:35pm tomorrow.

Chris Ray has been strong so far this season for the Rangers; although he no stranger to being traded.  He was sent from the Baltimore Orioles to the Rangers in exchange for Kevin Millwood.  As of last check Millwood has had a pretty poor season with the Orioles so it was probably a good move for the Rangers.  The Rangers bullpen seems to be a strong point for the team so they will benefit more from a catcher and just have a reliever step up. 

Early this season there was speculation that another one of the Molina brothers, Jose was going to sign with the Rangers after spending the previous two seasons as backup to Jorge Posada with the Yankees.  He eventually signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for what was probably more money.  As all fans know, the Rangers are broke and there is not much to spare.

At the beginning of the season the Rangers had decided to go with a platoon of Jarrod Saltlamacchia and Taylor Teagarden at catcher.  Saltlamacchiacaught the opening day start from Scott Feldman who is also not having that great of a season and, Saltlamaccia eventually went onto the disabled list and since returning from the disabled list he has spent the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Tegarden attempted to fill in at catcher with Matt Treanor backing him up, but Treanor eventually starting catching more and Teagarden was then sent to Triple-A to join Saltlamacchia.  Traenor has spent most of his career at a backup and he has struggled somewhat offensively hitting .237 with five home runs and 23 RBI’s in 156 at bats.

When the Rangers sent Teagarden down to Triple-A they called up catching prospect Max Ramirez to fill in as Treanor’s back-up.  In all regards with the struggles of Saltlamacchia and Teagarden it appears that Ramirez may be the catcher of the future for the Rangers.

If the Rangers do indeed acquire Molina, he only signed a 1 year 4.5 million deal before the beginning of season and is not under contract next season.  I am sure if he does come over and he does well he could end up coming back next year to give Ramirez some seasoning before assuming the starting role. 

The acquisition of Molina puts the Rangers in somewhat of a odd situation.  They have Treanor and Ramirez with the big league club and I don’t seem them carrying three catchers.  At Triple-A they have Saltlamacchia and since last time I checked Teagarden has been demoted to Double-A. 

I can see several different things happening, the best option I feel would be to send Ramirez back down to Triple-A to work on his game and keep Treanor on as a backup.  The next option would be to send Treanor down and keep Ramirez as the back-up.  I feel that Triple-A won’t do much for Treanor other than provide him with a pay check.  So he might end up being released or shipped to another team.

One thing I do feel that no matter what does happen if Molina is acquired it will provide a domino effect and somebody I feel is going to be released.  The one person who I could see being released the most is Teagarden, just because he has been up and down all season and he is not really doing the Rangers any good at Double-A.  I know this may sound crazy but I feel the Rangers will get more out of Saltlamaccia over the long run; although his time in the organization could be fading quickly.  No matter what does happen the Rangers definitely need a solid catcher and Molina can provide that to them.