Look, Ron Washington has his strengths. And there's no doubt he's been the greatest manager in the history of the Texas Rangers. He gets a lot out of his players, he gets them to believe in themselves and most importantly, he wins and takes the Rangers to World Series.
But on Friday, he showed some of his managerial ineptitude with some rather oddball decisions in the Rangers 9-0 loss to Tampa Bay.
Washington, his team trailing 8-0 after a horrible start from C.J. Wilson, decided it would be a good idea to throw Matt Harrison in the ninth inning on the wrong side of a blowout.
It was Harrison's day to throw in the bullpen between starts anyway, no big deal, right?
Well, except for the fact that the Rays got a look at Harrison after seeing him just once in August for two innings. Not to mention the fact that Harrison's outing didn't go real well, as he allowed a hit, a walk and a run in 2/3 of an inning of work.
Washington defenders said the move was made to get the postseason jitters out of Harrison's head, as he wasn't on the playoff roster a year ago.
I say it was a dumb move. Now the Rangers and Washington just need to hope Harrison can rebound on Tuesday in his Game 4 start, a game that will be an elimination game one way or the other.
