I got to watch all this game. Scored it, too. I also used my spring training cheat by ignoring the substitutions that the Royals made (except for the pitchers). The Rangers subs I kept up with, but I’ll be glad when the starting nine is the ending nine. Makes scoring a whole lot easier.
Derek Holland put an end to the week of bad pitching. He went out there and dominated, except for one or two blips. Five innings, gave up five hits, and no earned runs (one unearned). Struck out three, and his command looked pretty good. Not as totally dominating as Cliff Lee’s kind of stuff can be, but man, he looked good. If he does this for the rest of the spring (what, two more starts), he’ll probably be a lock to start in the rotation.
The only other pitcher Texas ran out was Brett Tomko, who got a four inning save. He gave up just one run on four hits and a couple of walks in that time. I was surprised he kept coming out – especially the last inning. I thought they’d give one of the possible closer guys a shot at one.
The first runs of the game came in the fourth by an opposite field two run home run by Mitch Moreland, who will probably be the regular first baseman.
Suddenly the poster boy for dropped balls (Julio Borbon) had the most hits of anyone – three. All singles. Mitch Moreland had a single to go with his home run for his two. Everyone else had just one.
Overall, it was a fairly well pitched game. Not dominant overall, but the numbers aren’t ugly. I was just glad I got to watch the whole game. I’ve missed a ton of games this spring, which is unusual.
Got our first look at one of the “regular” lineups we might be seeing out there. Didn’t look too bad.