Was Derek Holland's Dominate World Series Performance Wasted?

Derek Holland's brilliant performance last night in Game Four has me second guessing Ron Washington’s decision to move Holland down to fourth in his World Series rotation.  I am not usually a big fan of second guessing; but after examining the decision a little more carefully, I think that if the Rangers go on to lose the series in seven games this could be a major storyline.

Heading into the playoffs, to no one’s surprise Holland had been named the number two starter (over Lewis and Harrison) due to his superb regular season in which he led the team in wins (tied with Wilson with 16) and shutouts (4, three others tied with 1).  He also finished with a 9-1 record after the all-star break, the best on the team.  I would say that most people would have agreed that Holland had earned his place in this position. 

He went on to start Game 2 and appear in relief in Game 4 of the ALDS and then to start Games 2 and 6 of the ALCS.  And sadly, he seemed to struggle a little with the added pressure.  We didn’t see the dominate Derek Holland that we saw during the regular season.  He gave up 8 runs in 13.2 innings and looked surprisingly off his game in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Tigers, going only 2.2 innings and giving up 3 earned runs and walking 4 players.    

Because of this, moving Holland down to start Game 3 would have been easily explainable in my mind.  Colby Lewis, who had pitched well in the playoffs thus far and had been excellent on the road the entire season, would be able to use his experience from last year’s World Series to pitch on the road for Game 2.  This would have left Holland to pitch in front of his home fans Game 3 and then have the opportunity to dominate, like he had all season, in Game 7 if needed (see 4 shutouts mentioned before and 8 1/3 innings pitched last night). 

However, was Washington’s confidence shaken so much that he would rather have Matt Harrison in a decisive game 7?  For some reason it seemed to be.  Washington who has become known as a coach with will stick with his players (see “leaving Michael Young hitting 4^th in the ALCS”) didn’t stick with his guy who had rightfully earned his place as the 2^nd best starter on the team.

Now, we will just have to wait and see.  Will the Rangers miss out on using the pitcher who gave us one of the most dominate World Series performances in recent history for a second game?  How Matt Harrison performs in Game 7 (if necessary) will only tell us if Washington’s move paid off.  For now, I’m excited for Derek and how excellently he performed on such a grand stage; but, I have to say, I would much rather see Holland and his grotesque mustache take the ball in Game 7 instead of Harrison. 

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