TBA continues to give Rangers some hope in starting rotation

ARLINGTON — Ho-hum. The Los Angeles Angels sent yet another All-Star pitcher to the mound Tuesday night.

On Monday, it was Ervin Santana. Tuesday was Joe Saunders’ turn. Pitching the final two games of the series will be eight-game winner Jered Weaver and 2007 All-Star John Lackey.

And your Texas Rangers?

Until late Tuesday night, today’s starter was listed as TBA — To Be Announced.

By my unofficial count, this will be TBA’s 14th start of the season. He is third on the Rangers’ staff in most starts, just ahead of Here Goes Nothing and Some Dude from Frisco.

Pressed into duty on short notice, TBA has had his moments. Like on April 13, when TBA, doing business as relief pitcher Scott Feldman, was called upon to start a major league game for the first time. Feldman went six innings and pitched well enough to win, but the Rangers couldn’t complete the exacta.

And then there was May 3, when the Rangers needed a starting pitcher and A.J. Murray answered TBA’s phone. They won that day, but Murray didn’t start again for a month.

That’s the problem with being TBA. You get steadier work at the fire department.

Sidney Ponson. Doug Mathis. Eric Hurley. And now today, 24-year-old Mike Ballard, two summers removed from the University of Virginia campus.

They have all been TBAs, with a little Here Goes Nothing thrown in.

It’s never a good career move, of course, when your job security depends upon Kevin Millwood’s sore groin muscle. But by now, hey, manager Ron Washington should be used to it.

Pitcher Brandon McCarthy is mending in Arizona. Pitcher Jason Jennings is out for the season. Pitcher Sidney Ponson — don’t ask.

Murray can’t pitch for the next two weeks. Kason Gabbard has an inflammation in his left arm and was just placed on the disabled list.

Things are desperate enough that when Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware showed up Tuesday to throw out the first pitch, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said he would be watching.

Left-hander Matt Harrison, who was TBA himself until late Monday night, was handed Tuesday’s starting assignment with the usual instructions: throw strikes and pay no attention to the major league crowd that’s murmuring in your ears.

But instead of freezing in the headlights, Harrison seemed to stand tall in them. His seven-inning, five-hit, two-run performance was the longest by a Rangers first-time starter in eight seasons.

"We’ve gone to our young kids several times over the course of the season and, for the most part, they’ve answered the bell and produced for us," GM Daniels said.

"So we’re going to go right back to the well and give our most deserving kids a chance."

It’s not as if the club has a choice. The Milwaukee Brewers removed CC Sabathia from the trade market Monday. But who else should the Rangers be kicking the tires on — A.J. Burnett? Erik Bedard?

Should they have traded prized prospects for a chance to roll the dice on the questionable health of Oakland’s, now the Cubs’, Rich Harden?

No, no. For now, the TBAs have been a more intriguing bet.

"The thing with Mike is he throws strikes, is very competitive, works quickly and doesn’t give in," Daniels said of tonight’s now-planned starter.

"Is this a little quicker, maybe, than we anticipated? Sure. But we don’t think we’re putting him in over his head."

Every major league team, it seems, has had its fill of injuries. History tells us that the team whose pitching staff remains the healthiest tends to be a team that makes the postseason.

The Rangers don’t have four All-Star pitchers yet, as the Angels do. And there’s probably a lesson in that.

In this series showdown of division leader and young upstart, it would have been fun to see how a frisky Rangers team in full health would have done against the pedigreed Angels.

Instead, it’s been the Angels against Here Goes Nothing.

Tuesday was Matt Harrison’s turn. Today is scheduled to be Mike Ballard ... unless DeMarcus Ware showed Daniels something.

I’m kidding. I think.

If nothing else, all of the injuries and all of the shuffling have given the Rangers and their fans a glimpse at their future.

What direction it takes, well, that’s to be announced.