The Texas Rangers nightmarish home opener was yesterday afternoon and it was anything but grand. The result of the actual game was a 5-1 loss to Collin McHugh and the Houston Astros, but it was inconsequential when compared to the injuries that befell this team during this game. As a fan I was sitting at home just thinking seriously this is happening again
It started in the first inning with Derek Holland. During the inning he was not able to touch 90 mph on anything and seemed to not throw his fastball at all. He was throwing a mixture of changeups and curveballs. It led to him giving up a home run to Jed Lowrie. He was able to get out of it though, but that would be all that he would pitch. Anthony Bass came on in the second inning and all of a sudden red flags went up. What is wrong with Holland? Tom Grieve and Steve Busby thought that maybe he was just ill, Evan Grant on twitter speculated the same thing. Either way he was out of the game and it was a couple of innings before they reported that it was tightness in the back of his left shoulder. Even more red flags popped up. There is never anything good that comes when talking about pitchers and their shoulders. After the game they reported that it was a strain of the subscapular muscle and that he would be out at least 4-6 weeks and maybe longer. He is not even supposed to pick up a baseball for 4 weeks. I am leaning toward that it will be closer toward 8 weeks,but we shall see. Holland said that he had to keep himself from doing something stupid when he got the diagnosis. I feel terrible for him because he has worked so hard especially after the knee injury last year. He was ready to assume the role of staff ace after Yu Darvish went down with Tommy John surgery. He had a good spring training, a good tuneup start earlier in the week and was ready to go.Unfortunately he will have to wait till likely June to resume his season.
It would have been a bad day to just lose Holland to an injury, but Shin Soo Choo had to leave early due to back spasms and then Ryan Rua had to leave because of a foot injury. Choo seemed to be doing better after the game and will be day-to-day, but Rua will be going on the DL today. Carlos Peguero, who was one of the last cuts in spring training, will likely be called up to take his spot. Peguero and Smolinksi will probably split time in left field until Rua can come back.
As far as Holland is concerned, they may give his spot to Anthony Bass until they feel Ranaudo or Gonzalez is ready to go. The rotation as of now looks like it will be Gallardo, Lewis, Detweiler, Martinez, and Bass. Not exactly what the Rangers were hoping for back in February. That is what the team has right now. They have to make due and try to continue to win games and survive. They cannot let what happened last year happen again. The offense should still be fine. The pitching just needs to do enough to keep them in games.
Other Game Notes
- Prince Fielder continues his hot start to the season. He had another 3 hits and is hitting .421 on the season so far. He is hitting the ball to all fields. It is obvious he is trying to become a more well-rounded hitter and trying to get around the massive shifts that accompany each of his at bats.
- What gets lost in the game story with all the injuries is that Anthony Bass pitched really well and had maybe the play of the season so far.
He also pitched 5 innings and only allowed 1 run. That really allowed the Rangers to be able to stay in the game through the early innings. Then Mendez and Feliz kind of took them out of the game. If Bass can pitch like that and pitch like he did in Spring Training, he might be able to fill that hole until reinforcements are ready to go. All hope is not lost yet. It still is just the first week of the season. Holland will hopefully be back by June, Martin Perez should be back by July or August, Chi Chi Gonzalez should be ready by May or June. The Rangers have rotation depth, they just didn’t expect to have to use it this early. That is what makes baseball so unpredictable.
- The Rangers and Astros play again tonight in game 2 of the series at 7:05. It will be Yovanni Gallardo making his second start of the season and first start at home going up against veteran right-hander Roberto Hernandez. Go Rangers!!!
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