SPORTSDAY

This is how bad pitching taunts you. The Rangers got nothing to speak of from their starting rotation at the beginning of the season. Well, the bullpen, particularly Jamey Wright and Josh Rupe, pitched in with yeoman-like (whatever that means) efforts. They piled up innings and kept the Rangers in games they should have been out of by the fifth and the offense rallied to steal a bunch of wins.

Well, now they are paying the price. Now, the starters are giving the Rangers six and seven innings and the most reliable arms in the bullpen only need to give them one or two. But the most reliable arm in the bullpen is now closing (that would be Frank Francisco) leaving Wright as the primary setup guy. He says he feels fine. I think he _ and the Rangers_ are paying a price now for all those innings he piled up early. Nothing the Rangers could do about it then. Not much they can do about it now.

But this is how devastating starting pitching woes can be. When the starters aren't any good, they put you in big holes. And when they finally get in some kind of groove, the bullpen is on fumes.

This is the fourth straight game the Rangers have received a quality start from their starter. It is the season's longest streak. The only other time they received three in a row was April 4-6.

This is Jamey Wright's 64th appearance of the season, putting him within 10 of the Texas record for most appearances by a right-hander. I bring this up because Wright has just allowed four consecutive guys to reach base and appears to be out of gas.

And I say he's out of gas because he just walked Mike Napoli with the bases loaded to force his exit from the game. It was the Rangers' 21st bases loaded walk of the season. That ties the club record for most bases loaded walks. The 1987 club also had 21. Yay for records.

Mike Napoli struck out to start the second inning, which made him the first man to lead off an inning against Brandon McCarthy this season and NOT reach base. McCarthy had allowed the leadoff runner to reach in each of his first five innings.

Also, McCarthy got Brandon Wood on a fly ball and Sean Rodriguez on a strikeout to end the second. It was his first 1-2-3 inning of the season.

I'm not sure if the Colorado kid is energized by Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Denver or what, but let's go with that for the time being.

We saw two things of interest for the 2009 Rangers last night: a possible closer and a possible rotation member.

Frank Francisco looked good last night. Yes, it was the Kansas City Royals. But he was efficient (nine pitches) and was aggressive. Two important traits for a closer. Evan is right in that we'll learn more about Francisco after he struggles. But I liked what I saw. Two strikeouts and a ground out with seven of nine pitches being strikes. Good stuff.

Matt Harrison continued an up and down stretch. He was up last night, going 6 2/3 innings allowing one earned run on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. He mixed his approach up to certain hitters when he saw them the second or third time and he didn't try to do too much. He hasn't shown the consistency needed yet, but you can actually see the progress he's making. And that's the point. Harrison is beginning to make a strong case for the rotation next year. It's nice to have a lefty out there, isn't it?

What are your thoughts on Francisco and Harrison? Can Francisco handle the closer's role?

It was a good night on the farm for the Rangers, with only Bakersfield losing.

Check out Frisco's big comeback, a nice pitching performance from Clinton's Michael Main and plenty of offense from several teams, including the AZL Rangers.

Flip the page and enjoy.

Rangers have their first ever sweep (three games or more) at Kansas City. And Frank Francisco, who worked a perfect ninth, has his first major league save. Took him nine pitches to get a pair of strikeouts and a ground out. But it was against the Royals. Should that count.

I've spent a full inning trying to come up with some better way to describe the play that gave the Rangers the lead in the top of the seventh, but really I can't. I mean the catcher scored from second on a pop-up to the mound. That's it.

Hamilton has an abcessed tooth, so I was right (on the dental issue) and wrong (about the severity) earlier. He's going to need a root canal, hence the reason for the rather punnish headline. Probably get the root canal next week.

Manager Ron Washington officially scratched him from Friday's start because of his continuing neck and shoulder soreness. Washington said he'll be skipped this entire turn through the rotation, which means he won't pitch again until next Wednesday against Seattle.

I ask this question with all sincerity because I'm finding it difficult to understand the purpose of keeping him on the active roster if he can't be relied upon to take his turn on the mound. His neck and shoulders remain sore, which has been a continual issue since early July. He's pitched just seven times since July 4 and just twice since August 9. He's spent time on the DL and he's had starts pushed back, leaving the rest of the pitching staff in limbo.

Maybe he'll return to face Seattle next Wednesday and again on Sept. 9 in Seattle, but since the Rangers are skipping him this time through, he won't face the LA Angels this weekend. If so, that means that since August 9 he will have made four starts. They will have been against Detroit and Cleveland (both laggards in the AL Central) and Seattle (with the worst record in the AL) while missing scheduled outings against Boston, Tampa Bay (after he was scratched against Boston, his scheduled starts was moved back two days to come against Tampa Bay, but he was ultimately scratched from that game, too) and Los Angeles. Those last three clubs? Those are all currently playoff teams.

All of this struck me as I watched Padilla engage in a pretty animated dominoes game in the clubhouse today. My immediate feeling: If he's hurt, place him on the DL and make sure he's doing everything he can to get healthy; if he's not, put him on the mound. But this constant shuffling him in and out of the rotation is doing nobody any good.

Apparently, it was a very late change. Brandon Boggs is playing left and Marlon Byrd is moving to center. I know Hamilton was having some dental issues earlier in the day, but it didn't seem like it was going to be a big issue.

The Pittsburgh Pirates suddenly don't have a deal with Pedro Alvarez, the No. 2 pick in the draft.

Why is Scott Boras pushing around a team that is quickly closing in on a 16th consecutive losing season?

He also is very optimistic about being ready to return to the roster on Monday, the first day rosters can be expanded. He said his knee felt a little weak at times, but there was no soreness.

"I think I'm getting pretty close," he said. "Hopefully over the enxt three days, I can progress a little bit each day. I just need to get a little more strength and a little more confidence in it."

Just spied Vicente Padilla in the Rangers clubhouse. No heat pack on his neck and shoulders (which would suggest he's getting ready to throw) and no ice pack (suggesting he's already thrown), so my brilliant deduction is this: He won't start on Friday against Los Angeles. Manager Ron Washington wasn't definitive when I asked him informally a bit ago, but didn't sound optimistic. We should get an official word here shortly, but I'm expecting his turn in the rotation will be skipped this time around. The Rangers could use either Dustin Nippert or Luis Mendoza to start Friday's game.

Scott Little, that is. Of Double-A Frisco. He's been named Texas League Manager of the Year. A couple of weeks ago, Baseball America named him best managerial prospect in the league and Mike Micucci of Clinton the best managerial prospect in the low Class A Midwest League.

A couple of years ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find a managerial prospect in the system (and I'm discounting Bobby Jones only because the Rangers haven't considered him, not because I don't think he could be a big league manager). The point of the post is that the Rangers may be growing a couple of managerial prospects in the minors. Well, they seem to be growing a lot of player prospects in the minors, so they might as well grow some managerial dudes too.

This morning over at the Inside the Rangers Newsletter I offered my take on three more things Nolan Ryan and Co. can do to help the pitching staff improve as the club goes forward.

Now it's your turn. Consider this a suggestion box for the Rangers. Take your best shot at what you think might help provide some long-term help for the pitching staff. I'm not talking about acquisitions or firings. I'm talking about methods and tools. You have the complete bandwidth of the internet at your disposal. Be creative, technical. Whatever. Take your best shot.

Evan asked the question last night: Has Kevin Millwood really figured something out? Millwood said he's got more confidence now.

He's looked much more like the guy who pitched with some consistency in 2006. Yes, last night was against the Royals, so it's tough to analyze.

Millwood said even after he gave up five runs on 10 hits in 4.2 innings against Tampa Bay in the last homestand, that his mechanics were getting better he just had to get them more consistent. Maybe that's what he's done the last two starts. Two complete games and only one run given up in each is proof that something is working.

So are the last two starts proof that he can finish the season strong? Is now the time for the Rangers to send feelers out to see if there's any interest from a few playoff teams (Boston, maybe?) in Millwood's services? Or should the Rangers hang on to Millwood and see if he can return to the level he had in 2006?