Bats aren't all that carry Rangers to 6-0

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ARLINGTON -- The initial fireworks that splashed across the North Texas sky as the Texas Rangers opened the season with the ferocity of an April thunderstorm this past week didn't fool Ron Washington.

Don't get me wrong, Washington thoroughly enjoyed the bombardment of the Boston Red Sox and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Seattle Mariners' pitching staffs just as much as any delirious, red-clad Rangers fan.

"I'll take 10 or 12 hits and 9 or 10 runs every night," Washington said wryly as the Rangers wrapped up a couldn't-be-much better six-game homestand with a 7-3 victory over Seattle on Wednesday afternoon at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. "But you don't have consistency just doing that every night. You've got to pitch and you've got to catch the ball."

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Jeff ChiuAlexi Ogando pitched six shutout innings in his major league debut as a starting pitcher.

Good to know that despite the offensive extravaganza -- the Rangers are averaging seven runs a game -- Washington's mantra has not changed one iota.

"Pitching and defense," Washington said. "It's always going to come down to pitching and defense."

It is that cautionary warning that lends the proper perspective to any analysis of the Rangers' terrific season-opening homestand. It is not the offensive explosion in the first three games upon which Rangers fans should hang their hopes for a two-peat as American League champs.

Instead, it is the very promising first starts by their young Nos. 3, 4 and 5 starters that should be earmarked as the most surprising developments of the homestand. Surprising because not one, not two, but all three pitched well.

"What I learned is that we can play baseball any kind of way," Washington said. "I knew we were going to have to play the type of game we played [Tuesday] night [a 3-2 win over the Mariners], and we did it.

"I know we're not going to blow everybody away. We can't maintain this pace, but it's about being consistent in the main areas of pitching and defense. I think if we can stay consistent there, ya'll will enjoy the year that we put together. I know we will."

Most of us expected C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis to pick up where they left off in 2010 and, for the most part, they have. But despite highly successful springs, no one could be absolutely sure what the Rangers might get out of young lefties Matt Harrison and Derek Holland and out of right-hander Alexi Ogando, given his first shot at a major league start. Not even Washington was sure what to expect.

Forget about the 42 runs the Rangers scored in their first six games, the 13 home runs they blasted in their first five, Ian Kinsler's homering in the season's first three games or even Nelson Cruz belting four in the first four. Great stuff, but offense can be here today, gone tomorrow. The headliners of the first homestand should have been Harrison, Holland and Ogando.

Here's what the three youngsters combined to deliver in their first outings of the year: a 3-0 record and a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings pitched. They allowed just nine hits and four earned runs in those 19 innings while walking only five and striking out 16.

For Washington and Nolan Ryan, who said he couldn't remember being involved with a more successful season-opening homestand, they were the most pleasant surprise of the season's first week.

"We saw the things we wanted to see out of them," Ryan said. "That was the most encouraging part. They pitched out of tough jams. I've seen maturity in them; I've seen them grow as pitchers."

Washington couldn't agree more.

Holland

"We weren't sure how our young staff was going to handle going out there. We knew they had the capability; now they're showing the maturity," Washington said. "They're showing the confidence.

"They all have big league experience. Now they have a chance to get a spot and they're taking advantage of it. So if there's any surprise, that's it."

Washington already knew what his team could do offensively.

"As far as swinging the bat, I knew we could do that," he said. "Running the bases, I knew we could do that. But it'll come down to pitching.

Harrison

"Pitching and defense, that's where the consistency has to be. And if the consistency is in those two areas, every night we're in the ballgame. That's where you want to be, where it takes one hit to win a game instead of eight."

Washington wasn't worried about the Rangers' struggles this spring because most of those occurred after his regulars had played their six or seven innings.

"When they were in the game, they played well," Washington said.

The team-first attitude this team adopted last year, the one that carried them to their first World Series, is still prevalent, too.

"We have the mental outlook," Washington said. "Those guys will never get ahead of themselves. They learn from what they've experienced. They know they can play. But the only thing we can talk about moving forward is today.

"You appreciate what you've accomplished and you learn from it, but it's always [about] today. It's always today. You try to be the best team today."

There was a quote from one of his players this week that excited Washington far more than any of those monster home runs he saw against the Red Sox and it came from an unlikely source: 22-year-old closer Neftali Feliz, whose first two appearances of the season were in non-save situations.

"He said he don't care about coming in in a save situation, it's about winning a ballgame," Washington said, and he couldn't keep the grin off his face. "What an attitude."

Offense is great, but it can be fickle. Pitching, defense and a winning attitude can take a team a long, long way.

If we didn't already know it, that's what the Rangers' opening homestand reminded us once again.

Jim Reeves, a former columnist with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is a regular contributor to ESPNDallas.com.

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