Harden is the Game 3 Starter
I’m not sure how I feel about this news.
From AN:
“I was just watching Ken Macha’s new conference before game 1 and he said that Harden is now officially the game 3 starter. He said that they specifically limited his pitch count yesterday so that he could go again on Friday in Detroit. He said that it was tough to push back Haren who has been great but that Harden was the man for now.”
Yesterday, I said that Harden could slot into the 3rd and 7th spots if he was healthy and pitched well in his fall league tune-up.
He didn’t pitch great in his start, but it wasn’t terrible, either.
“…Rich Harden might not have helped himself with a somewhat shaky outing in an instructional-league game in Phoenix on Monday.
Harden allowed six hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings, with the damage coming in his final inning. He didn’t walk a batter, struck out four and hit 94 mph on the radar gun.
“He looked like Rich Harden,'’ assistant general manager David Forst said of the report he’d received. “
If Harden pitches like he did in 3 out of 4 of his last games, this will be good. But if he pitches like he did in Arizona, or in this game, it may be a poor move to take away one of Dan Haren’s starts.
I like the risk, though. The payoff would be huge, if it succeeds.
[UPDATE]
Oakland’s Official Website has confirmed that Harden will be the Game Three (and possibly Game Seven) starter.
After days of waffling, the A’s announced Tuesday that righty Rich Harden, who missed much of the season with back and elbow injuries and hasn’t pitched in a big-league game since giving up six runs over 3 2/3 innings in the regular-season finale in Anaheim on Oct. 1, will make his 2006 postseason debut Friday in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series at Detroit’s Comerica Park.
“We’ve gotta find out what Rich can do,” Oakland director of player personnel Billy Owens said before Game 1 of the ALCS at McAfee Coliseum. “Now, he’s ready to pitch.”