Arlington, Tex.
The secret of the 107th World Series is that, if they can calm down, the Texas Rangers have a quartet of the most dominating young power pitchers in baseball in Derek Holland, C.J. Wilson, Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando.
- Thomas Boswell
- Columnist
Could Derek Holland’s World Series Game 4 be spark the Rangers’ underrated pitchers need?
Not that you would know it from the way they pitched in their brief World Series careers before Sunday night. Mostly, they’ve been nervous wrecks or inconsistent or news-conference blabbermouths or just plain crazy wild.
Finally, in Game 4, the southpaw Holland, a 25-year-old who is sometimes so antsy that he never sits down during an entire game, restored balance to this most excellent battle, evening the World Series at two games apiece with 81 / 3 dazzling innings in a 4-0 victory over St. Louis.
One night, the Cardinals score 16. The next, they get two hits. It’s baseball.
A three-run homer by battery mate Mike Napoli off reliever Mitchell Boggs mightily aided Holland, who went 16-5 this season and has an overpowering repertoire of fastballs up to 96 mph, wicked breaking stuff and a nice change-up, too. Perhaps most important, his gem lets us get a proper appreciation of what an excellent and evenly balanced series this really is.
Of all the Rangers’ young guns who’ve stumbled in the World Series, Holland was the most embarrassed in his 2010 debut when he threw 13 pitches — 12 of them balls — and was charged with three runs against the Giants.
“I joke about it,” said Holland who later pitched a scoreless inning in that series. “But I wanted to redeem myself for last year.
“Sometimes, my emotions get the better of me, like they did against Tampa Bay [in Game 1 of their American League Division Series]. But I was prepared. I’m not going to let this get away from me.”
Holland’s jitters and an overall 5.04 postseason ERA were enough for Rangers Manager Ron Washington to push him back to this Game 4 start and use slightly less anxious Matt Harrison, another flamethrower with wicked breaking pitches, in Game 3. That way, Harrison might return for a Game 7. Oops. Harrison lasted 11 outs in Saturday’s 16-run onslaught.
Sunday, Washington went so far as to give Holland a pregame pep talk, complete with pats on the face, as he tried to help the pitcher he has called “a pony” turn into something more. “Well, he was a thoroughbred tonight,” said Washington, who hopes his other over-amped arms get the message.
Ogando, who won 13 games as a starter, was moved to the bullpen with great success in the first two rounds of the playoffs. But in this series, he’s come in twice to face pinch-hitter Allen Craig and twice allowed RBI singles that put the Rangers behind. Saturday, he became a casualty of Albert Pujols, too.
So, this game began with undisguised trepidation. Texas President Nolan Ryan has assembled 95 mph-plus arms in his own image. But were they actually polished and composed enough for this stage?
Holland was so brilliant, issuing two walks and striking out seven, that with one on and one out in the ninth, he begged Washington to leave him in to finish the shutout. “I just told him, ‘If you want to stay out here, get on your knees,’ ” the manager said jokingly. “He walked off the field.”
- Spam
- Obscene
- Duplicate
Loading...
Comments