For my money, basically since the all-star break, there hasn't been a Texas Rangers starting pitcher that I look more forward to watching every fifth day than Derek Holland.
Yes, he's a bit combustible at times and can have a 2-inning outing every so often, but when he's on, he's the most electrifying pitcher the Rangers have on their starting staff.
When Holland takes the hill tonight in Oakland to open the Rangers third-to-last series of the regular season, he'll be looking to extend his current streak of four straight quality starts, which is two more than any previous streak he had in his career.
Again, a quality start is kind of a bogus stat, but it's a way to judge pitchers' starts in better terms than wins and losses. It's when you throw a minimum of six innings and give up three or less earned runs.
Holland is 6-1 in his last 10 outings, and yes, he has two terrible starts mixed in there (one was a loss and one was a no-decision) and he has his ERA down to 4.02 searching for his 15th win of the season.
Holland's last outing against the A's? A complete-game shutout. In five career starts against the A's, he has a 2.03 ERA and he's 7-3 this season on the road.
Things are looking good for the Rangers and for Holland.
