When C.J. Wilson was pitching well for the Texas Rangers in 2010 and 2011, he was a sort of mentor to his young left-handed teammate Derek Holland.
Holland looked to pattern his game after Wilson's, who became a very good starting pitcher after several years in the Rangers' bullpen, like Wilson did before with veteran Cliff Lee, who was a Ranger for a mere four months in 2010 but had a big impact on his younger teammates.
On Tuesday, as the two squared off in Arlington, Holland patterned his game after Wilson's, and it wasn't the good parts of Wilson's game as both pitchers dealt with efficiency issues and were hit pretty hard in what ended up being a 14-11 Rangers win in 10 innings.
Wilson needed 109 pitches to get through four innings, allowing 11 hits and six earned runs to the Rangers' anemic offense, walking three and striking out six. It was vintage bad C.J., nibbling on the corners and not getting the calls.
As Wilson was working at a snail's pace, Holland was having trouble building any type of rhythm and labored through six innings, throwing 102 pitches — not bad numbers on the surface but Holland was having trouble locating anything and gave up eight hits and four earned runs while walking two and fanning six. It definitely wasn't the crisp Holland we've seen for much of the season.
Both pitchers got no-decisions on Tuesday in the battle of former teammates, and neither looked particularly good doing it, but Holland's team got the win — somehow — and that's all that matters.
