Talk about a top-heavy rotation. The Rangers have exactly that with righthanders Aaron Sele and Rick Helling. Through Saturday, the duo is the winningest combination in the major leagues with 22 wins. That's one more than Atlanta's Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and two more than New York's David Cone and David Wells. The Rangers are 25-7 when those two take the mound and 21-27 when they don't. Baseball's first two 11-game winners have made the argument to be on the American League All-Star team. Neither is overpowering but very effective. Pitching coach Dick Bosman thinks each can consistently register between six to eight strikeouts a start. Sele is off to the best start of his career and has had tremendous control of his curveball. He already had 92 strikeouts prior to Sunday's start in San Francisco. His career high was 137 in 1996. Helling's curveball is different as it breaks harder. He only throws about 88 mph, but he can get away with living high in the strike zone because that curveball has worked so well. He has rebounded from a mediocre May and has been the hottest pitcher in June. Helling is 4-1 with a 3.03 ERA. Earning his first chance to pitch in a starting rotation in his career, Helling has meant reliability. He's taken 13 of his first 16 starts at least six innings and has never lasted less than five innings. The two pitch on consecutive days and have lockers next to each other. They have talked about philosophy. Sele believes Helling has been a great influence on him to pitch aggressively in the count and is willing to throw his changeup a little more. "The two of us seem to feed off each other," Helling said. "Neither of us will give in during counts. We're just pitching with confidence." . . . Scouting director Chuck McMichael has held two series of negotiations with the team's first-round pick, Northeastern University first baseman Carlos Pena, who was the 10th overall choice. McMichael is terming the talks positive. But when lefthander Ryan Mills -- the sixth overall pick taken by Minnesota -- received a $2 million bonus last week, that got the Rangers' attention. McMichael does not negotiate in the press, but it's fair to think the club must consider roughly a $1.5 million bonus for Pena.
![]() |
Join the MLB Web-Ring |
![]() |
A.S.G. Baseball | ||||
![]() |
[Skip
Prev Site]
[Prev Site] [Next Site] [Skip Next Site] |
![]() |
[Ring Info]
[Random Site] [List All Sites] [Join] |
![]() |
This ALL-SPORT GOLD Site is Owned by SportsMan. Member ID# : |