This was one of those “growing pains” games for Derek Holland. Most Rangers fans expect him to be great, but he is 22, and there won’t be games. Actually,it wasn’t totally awful, but the line wasn’t particuarly great, either. Five innings, five hits (not too bad), four walks (bad), and a home run. Derek gave up four earned runs in his five innings, which is certainly not good.
The Dodgers also tacked on two against Eddie Guardado in his 2/3 of an inning. He seems to be way more inconsistent this year. There’s still outings where he was good like he was in 2008, but the 2009 version isn’t nearly as automatic. Certainly he isn’t “everyday”.
Darren O’Day’s ERA is 0.82. Just sayin’… ;)
Offensively, I wanted to start with Ian Kinsler. His slump continues, with his batting average now at .260 after a 0-4 game. This game featured just six hits from Ranger players, two of them from Andruw Jones, everyone else just one. In fact, the only run of the game came from the only hit that wasn’t a single, that being Jones’ fourth inning solo home run.
There’s no shame in losing to the team with the best record in baseball, and it’s not like they were run over like roadkill, either. They played well as a team in the two losses, but you’d rather see 2-1 than 1-2 for sure.
So much for a slump! 2 HRs baby!