Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Rich Harden has had a miserable start to the season so far in 2010. Through five starts, he threw just 23.2 innings, allowing 14 runs and issuing a jaw-dropping 27 free passes. Ordinarily, then, given those conditions, it would take a lot more than one good outing to get people to start changing their minds.
But on this Monday night, Harden hasn't only whiffed nine Oakland A's in seven innings while throwing 71% strikes. He's also done this:
April 28th Start: 88.8mph average fastball
May 3rd Start: 91.8mph average fastball
Harden had previously been working in the 88-91 range after throwing 91-94 a year ago with Chicago, so there was good reason to believe he was broken. On Monday, however, he looked much more like himself - topping out at 95.6mph - with correspondingly awesome results.
The Rangers paid a lot of money to get Rich Harden. He may not be completely fixed, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
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