Rangers’ Holland goes from ‘antsy’ to ‘on fire’ in first start

Texas Rangers left-hander Derek Holland couldn’t find the right word to describe how he felt before making his first start of the spring Friday.

He used “antsy” a couple of times and “erratic” once.

Then, later, he decided to go with “on fuego,” which in Spanish, translates to “on fire,” although technically the Spanish term is en fuego. Forgive Holland for the Spanglish. He was just so jacked up to be back on the mound in a game with his teammates.

In fact, Holland, who missed much of last season with a knee injury, had been champing at the bit to get the spring started long before most of his teammates even arrived in Surprise. A sore shoulder delayed his progress and all he had done was throw one inning in a B game on March 14.

“I’m not kidding, I was going 100 mph in the dugout,” Holland said after holding the Seattle Mariners scoreless in three innings Friday. “Even when I walked out from the bullpen to the dugout [bullpen coach Andy Hawkins] and them were trying to settle me down because I was very antsy.”

It probably didn’t help the blood pressure, Holland admitted, that he watched Game 4 of the 2011 World Series on his iPad Friday morning, a routine he follows before every start. Watching his win against the Cardinals, in which he pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, helps him visualize success. That win in Arlington evened the series at 2-2.

“I think that got me even more fired up,” he said. “It was just getting that first game under the belt; that was the big thing. Once I got that first inning over everything came back to normal and I was back to being me.”

The Rangers are hoping he’s the same Derek Holland who threw five quality starts in as many chances last September. Friday was a solid first step.

“I thought he was sharp,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “I thought the fastball played, the velocity was there. He got the changeup back in play. I was pleased with his outing. Got his pitch count up. He got his work in.”

Getting his work in, however successful it was, was the most important part of the day for Holland. The mid-90s velocity, the sharp breaking ball? Those were just gravy.

“The first inning I was a little erratic,” he said. “First time out with the guys, I just wanted to get out there and be able to pitch. And then I got back in my groove and settled down and made my pitches, and I was very satisfied with how everything came out.”

A misplayed fly ball by left fielder Ryan Rua on Holland’s first batter turned a single into a double, ratcheting up Holland’s jitters even more. But he forced a groundout to first before inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

“Rua is trying to lay out for a ball, you got to give him credit. He’s going after it,” Holland said. “It’s not like he gave up on it or anything like that. He’s trying to make the play, it obviously didn’t go the way he wanted to, but you know what? That’s how baseball is. I didn’t let that affect me. My job after that was to make sure he didn’t get in.”

Holland pitched a 1-2-3 second and allowed a single up the middle in the third before forcing two more groundouts to end his day.

“I’m still making sure everything is going the right way,” Holland said. “Overall, I feel very happy with where I am; strength-wise it’s great, conditioning-wise it’s great. I don’t want to rush anything but I want to be caught up with these guys [other starting pitchers].”

After that first inning, emotions-wise he was great, too. He kept the ball down in the zone and forced six ground-ball outs.

“Those are the things that Derek’s got to be able to do throughout the season,” Banister said. “His emotions and being jacked up, I’m glad. These guys have feelings, they’re human beings. Getting back out on the field, first time in a big stadium, I’m sure there were some feelings there, and I’m glad he came out of it as sharp as he was.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Rangers’ Holland goes from ‘antsy’ to ‘on fire’ in first start."