So starts the list of games I can’t see. “Watched” this one on mlb at bat on the computer, since I couldn’t watch it on TV. Listened to (most of) the radio broadcast. It sounded to me like Derek Holland was a bit all over the place.
He technically was given a quality start, but let’s face it. Six innings pitched, three earned runs (ERA of 4.50) barely qualifies. Men far more erudite than me on the subject of baseball stats have argued that one, so I won’t go into extreme detail. But Holland didn’t help himself with three walks over his six innings. His overall line was six innings pitched, three hits, three earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. Holland was a bit wobbly early on, but settled down after the Sox did their scoring against him, and put up three zeroes in the 4th through 6th innings. Derek exited with 93 pitches, which for six innings was only three over the recommended limit, so he probably could have gone again. Perhaps it was a gut feeling by Wash, or a “Hey, it’s his first outing, we’ll keep the count down a little” type of thing. [Read more…]