Real solid outing from Brandon McCarthy last night...I missed the first few innings, but from what I saw, he looked like the guy the Rangers thought they were getting when they made that Christmas Eve, 2006, trade. He had three solid pitches he was commanding, and he was throwing strikes. If he can do that consistently, the Rangers will be able to feel good about one of their rotation spots.
Ron Washington and McCarthy both said that McCarthy needs to throw fewer pitches, with McCarthy saying his problem was with putting batters away. That's my ongoing concern with McCarthy...I'm not convinced he has a strikeout pitch, and if he doesn't, he's going to continue to have issues with having batters foul off 2 strike pitches.
Gerald Laird and Taylor Teagarden are going to split time the rest of the way, and Laird isn't happy about it (and is complaining about it to the press).
I can sympathize with Laird. The whole catching situation this season has been handled in a way that isn't real beneficial to any of the players involved, and the Rangers are going to have to move at least one of these guys this offseason. As Laird speculates, he has a good chance of being one of the guys moved. But it is still dumb, and inappropriate, to be mouthing off to the press about it.
David Murphy, Ian Kinsler, and Eric Hurley are all on the shelf still. Hurley is done for the season, Murphy has stopped taking b.p. and fielding, and Kinsler still can't do anything at full speed.