Rangers' C.J. Wilson again shows move to rotation was right one

12:39 AM CDT on Saturday, May 8, 2010

Column by KEVIN SHERRINGTON / The Dallas Morning News | ksherrington@dallasnews.com

ARLINGTON – On the night after what Nolan Ryan called an "old-time Rangers game" – and there wasn't any nostalgia in his voice when he said it – in which the Rangers blew an eight-run lead and used five relievers before pulling out a miraculous win, the beleaguered bullpen needed a blow. They needed a starter who could go toe-to-toe with one of baseball's best.

They needed an ace. For one night, anyway, they got one.

C.J. Wilson's duel Friday with Kansas City's Zack Greinke, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, made the best case yet for bearing out what seemed at best a wacky spring training experiment.

Everything Greinke did, Wilson did better. He pitched longer, was more efficient and, most importantly, he won. Again.

His six quality starts to begin a season ties him with Charlie Hough and Kevin Brown and breaks a tie with Fergie Jenkins and Rick Honeycutt.

Probably we shouldn't read too much into this, but check the names in the above paragraph again. Three of them number among the best starters in club history.

C.J. Wilson – the former reliever routinely booed by the locals only two years ago, the wild child who talked his way into a starting shot – hearing fans chant "C.J ... C.J ... C.J."

Could he really be the Rangers' best pitcher?

"He's one of the best," Ron Washington said, smiling.

Of course, he has to say as much. He's got Scott Feldman and Rich Harden in front of Wilson in the rotation. He can't be upsetting the hierarchy at this point. Not yet, anyway.

But when asked if Wilson had exceeded his expectations, Washington said, "You have to say no. He said he could start. Now he's doing it."

Kids say a lot of crazy things. My 12-year-old wants a motorcycle. Doesn't mean I'm buying him leather pants.

Frankly, when the Rangers said they were caving in this spring and finally letting Wilson have what he wanted, a shot at starting, I figured it would last a couple of weeks. Maybe three. And then they'd plug him back into the bullpen where he belongs.

They could use him out there. The bullpen earned run average of 4.09 is ninth in the league. Only Kansas City and Los Angeles have given up more hits.

And then there's the issue of the revolving door at closer, where it's Frankie Francisco one night and Neftali Feliz the next. The Rangers miss the consistency Wilson gave them as he moved seamlessly from role to role in the bullpen.

But as much as they miss him in a relief role, Wilson is more than making up for it as a starter. Because he went nine innings, giving up only five hits, walking two and throwing just 113 pitches, he lowered his ERA to 1.51 and gave the bullpen a night off.

And he gave the rest of his teammates a sigh of relief.

"We definitely needed it," Michael Young said. "That was a huge effort."

Hey, C.J.: Is this your 'A' game?

"I don't know what my 'A' game is," he said. "This is all new to me."

He used his change-up effectively and ran his cutter in on the hands of right-handed hitters. He also got some nice plays behind him, including Elvis Andrus' spectacular catch-and-throw from deep in the hole on Jose Guillen's lead-off grounder in the ninth, a play we've come to expect from Elvis now.

Just like we're beginning to expect good things from Wilson.

Over the course of a long, long season, things balance out. Trends fizzle. Track records take over.

Eventually the Rangers will be forced to identify a closer, find a catcher and come up with an owner.

And sooner or later, they'll have to deal with the fact C.J. Wilson will not record a quality start. But right now this kid is growing on me.

Rangers' Wilson continues to ace test

By RAY BUCK

rbuck@star-telegram.com

ARLINGTON -- Not surprisingly, C.J. Wilson kept his end of the bargain in the much-anticipated pitching duel against Zack Greinke on Friday night.

C.J. has been right-on since he lobbied hard in spring training to become a Rangers' starter after a nice career pitching out of the bullpen most of the past five seasons.

Everyone should be listening now.

He always has had good enough stuff, people knew.

But he has now channeled that "stuff" into a perfect storm with his competitive nature.

Wilson is 6-for-6 in quality starts, tying a team record to start a season -- even with Charlie Hough (1988) and Kevin Brown (1993).

On Fireworks Friday, Wilson (3-1) posted his first complete-game victory, scattering five singles and beating the Kansas City Royals 4-1 before a crowd of 29,065 that chanted "C.J., C.J." toward the end.

The 29-year-old left-hander made short work of the Royals and the reigning Cy Young winner, Greinke. This was the fastest-played game at the ballpark (2 hours, 9 minutes) since May 29, 2006, vs. Seattle (2:00).

C.J. entered Friday night's game with the AL's third-best ERA (1.65) and knocked it down 14 points (1.51) with a gritty finish in which his pitch count ended up at 113, including 69 strikes.

It might not even be the best that he can be (even C.J. isn't sure), and that's the scary part for opposing batters who have to continue facing this man on a mission.

"Once I got into the eighth, I clicked into another gear and went into closer mode," Wilson said.

Said Rangers manager Ron Washington: "He obviously knows how to finish ball games; that's what he's used to doing."

The Rangers' one-time closer became a start-to-finisher Friday night.

"C.J. has definitely blown everybody away," right fielder David Murphy said. "He's stepped in, taken charge and become the leader of the staff."

Third baseman Michael Young isn't surprised by what he's seeing... not if you take into account Wilson's makeup.

"The fact that C.J. wanted to start and took it as a challenge, his competitiveness just kicked in," Young said.

Wilson was just as happy to give his old bullpen mates a night off as anything that happened.

Has C.J. surprised even C.J. with this kind of start?

"If you're succeeding expectations, then you're not setting your expectations very high," he replied. "My goal is to throw seven, eight, nine innings every time."

He had an effective slider and an even better changeup. But his best pitch on Fireworks Friday was his sinker, although he described it as a "two-headed snake."

Sometimes, Royals batters would be beat into the ground; other times, it fell out of the bottom of the strike zone.

"I threw something like 45 ***** [actually 44]," Wilson said. "I'm really unhappy with that."

Vladimir Guerrero has looked like an efficiency expert after two games against the Royals.

Bad Vlad approached the plate in the second inning and picked out the first Greinke offering, and sent it careening into the left-field home run porch. The Rangers led 1-0.

That was Guerrero's third home run in three consecutive at-bats.

It was accomplished by a grand total of four pitches seen, but that's Vlad. Not one to squander opportunity.

"When Vlad hit that home run, I knew that was it. I knew we were going to win the game," Wilson said. "When he's locked in, it changes the whole complexion of the offense."

The play of the game was Elvis Andrus' on a ball hit deep into the hole at shortstop -- behind third baseman Young. Andrus threw a strike to first baseman Justin Smoak.

"I thought [Andrus] had no shot," Washington said.

"No -- never," Smoak said.

Andrus just grinned afterward and said something about this being his favorite play of all. For sure, he made it look that way.

For winless Greinke, it was more of the same: Not enough support. He came into the game with a 2.27 ERA. He is now 0-4.

The Rangers recently won games in Seattle against starters Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, so their hitters aren't intimidated. Lee was the 2008 AL Cy Young winner.

Since Washington became manager in 2007, the Rangers have beaten a reigning Cy Young winner four times: C.C. Sabathia (Indians) twice in 2008, Lee (Indians) in 2009 and now Greinke.

And Friday, Wilson made sure it was going to go that way.

Was this his A game?

C.J. paused.

"I don't really know what my A game is," he said. "This is all new."

Wilson also set two club records. He has not allowed a home run at the Ballpark in 69 1/3 innings, the longest streak in club history. His seven quality starts to begin a season is also a first in club history.