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SEATTLE – When your father played for the University of Texas and in the Texas Rangers' system, and your grandfather was the voice of Texas Stadium, your Texas roots run deep.

And when Jason Jennings came back home last year to pitch for the Astros, the owner, a Baylor alum, couldn't resist.

"Do I need to point out he's a Baylor grad?" Drayton McLane giddily asked reporters.

"He's one of the best players in the history of Baylor baseball."

Unfortunately, and more to the point, Jennings won't go down as one of the best players in the semi-sordid history of the Astros.

A "joke" is what he once called his one and only season in Houston.

So what keeps him from being a punch line as the No. 3 starter for Texas' other team this year?

First and foremost, he's healthy going into tonight's start against the Mariners. He's not all the way back from surgery on his right elbow, but he's close enough.

Second, he didn't cost the Rangers anything but $4 million of Tom Hicks' money.

And third, he's taking Brandon McCarthy's spot in the rotation, not Andy Pettitte's.

Or as Jennings framed his dilemma last year in Houston, Pettitte and Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees, and the Astros "were left with me."

What did the Astros get from Jennings, suddenly bumped to No. 2 in the rotation?

A 2-9 record, 6.45 ERA and a season over and out by Aug. 20.

Not exactly what Astros fans were hoping for when the organization gave up center fielder Willy Taveras and a pair of its top pitching prospects, Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsch, to get him from Colorado.

Bad enough when you're trying to replace Pettitte, one of the most successful left- handers in baseball history.

Even worse when your elbow hurts so much in spring training you can barely lift your arm the morning after pitching.

Playing hurt is one of the consequences when you feel the pressure and expectations of coming back to your native state.

"We didn't play well, and I didn't pitch well," Jennings said. "It was a bad year."

If Jennings continues to show the same progress he has this spring, you won't have to worry about an encore.

Jennings has learned quite a bit about himself and pitching since he was college baseball's National Player of the Year in 1999 and the NL Rookie of the Year in 2002. Early on in his career, he threw consistently in the low 90s and relied on a sinker. What he found in the thin air of Colorado as he struggled over the next three seasons was that the ball didn't always act like he wanted it to, and when it didn't, it often ended up out of reach.

But in 2006 Jennings developed a four-seam fastball to complement his sinker. He found it easier to throw for strikes. A victim of poor run support, he won only nine games. Still, he pitched a career-high 212 innings, the fourth time in five seasons he pitched as many as 180 innings.

You can't underestimate what just such a workload means to a staff. The Rangers used to get those kinds of numbers from their starters back when they could find the postseason.

No, they're not Johan Santana numbers. But they take the pressure off the bullpen, not to mention McCarthy and Luis Mendoza.

Kevin Millwood showed signs in the opener that he may be back. Vicente Padilla couldn't be as bad as he was last year, could he?

Prediction: If Millwood, Padilla and Jennings return to '06 form, the Rangers will finish with a .500 record or better.

"What we're buying here," Rangers pitching coach Mark Connor said, "is the guy [Jennings] before the injury.

"If we get a semblance of that back, we're in business."

Connor cautions not to expect too much, too soon. But Jennings' ability to command four pitches, especially the sinker, excites the pitching coach.

And despite the debacle in Houston last year, Jennings is glad to be home. The oldest of his three children started school in Frisco this fall. Everyone's glad to have dad close.

And the pressure that comes with it? Not so much this time.

"Nobody expects a lot out of us," he said. Growing up with the Rangers, it's a familiar scouting report.