" Rich Harden is not meeting the expectations the Rangers had in mind when they signed him to lead their starting rotation.

To the right-hander's credit, though, he knows he must be better than he has shown in the first three starts with his new team.

Harden (0-1) has lasted 3 2/3 , six and 3 2/3 innings in his first three starts. He has thrown 288 pitches to 66 batters.

"I want to get ahead of hitters and be able to put them away faster," he said. "Sometimes I try to make too good of a pitch instead of doing what I did to get ahead." "