Holland's command performance.
Epic purist's game between Derek Holland and Matt Cain. If Holland starts to command the breaking ball like that consistently, watch out. Great-looking start. Once Chris Davis fanned in the top of the seventh inning (his 99th of the year), I was anxious to see what would Ron Washington would do if Omar Vizquel followed by getting out himself. Vizquel skied out to left, bringing up the pitcher's spot with two outs and nobody on, and I half-figured Holland's night would be done. He'd already completed six innings for the first time in the big leagues, throwing 82 pitches. I could see the argument that you pat the kid on the back, having kept his team locked in a 1-1 tie against what could be this year's National League Cy Young award winner. But Ron Washington let Holland hit and then let him pitch some more. He retired Rich Aurilia, Andres Torres, and Matt Downs in order, going seven strong after having never gone six. One run on four hits and one walk, five strikeouts, 62 strikes in 95 pitches. A first-pitch strike to 12 of the last 13 Giants he faced. Lots to build off of. As for the Rangers offense, little to build off of, again. Hitless in five chances with runners in scoring position, 11 strikeouts. More ugly. Credit Cain, too, of course. He held Texas to one run on three hits over eight, lowering his ERA to 2.28. (Since my unpopular suggestion on May 16 that Texas offer Matt Harrison and Justin Smoak for either Cain or Florida's Josh Johnson, and since my equally unpopular seven-player trade proposal on August 27 to bring Zack Greinke here, the Cain-Johnson-Greinke trio has made 33 starts, going 22-5, 2.11.) Holland's effort doesn't erase the bitterness of losing another game late, but it bodes well for this club's future, as do Blake Beavan's Frisco home debut (one run on six hits and a walk in seven innings, four strikeouts, 72 strikes in 99 pitches) and Robbie Ross's professional debut (two runs on four hits in five innings in Spokane's season opener, punching out nine and walking none, starting with three perfect innings that included five strikeouts and four groundouts), both earlier tonight. Texas hangs onto its division lead by virtue of Jered Weaver's loss to his brother Jeff, but the way this offense is going, how much longer can this 46-day run atop the West last? Kevin Millwood gets the ball Sunday to try and extend things at least another day. Sure would like to somehow take three of these next four in San Francisco and Arizona before we return for a nine-game homestand that kicks off Friday, when Derek Holland gets a chance to attack San Diego the way he took it to San Francisco tonight. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar. (c) Jamey Newberg http://www.newbergreport.com Twitter @newbergreport If you want to be removed from this list, please e-mail me at newbergreport@sbcglobal.net