One Giant family reunion for new signed pitcher

SAN FRANCISCO — On the night Derek Holland’s team lost the World Series, his uncles tried to hide their utter delight.

Sitting in the Texas Rangers family section for the decisive Game 5, on Nov. 1, 2010, lifelong Giants fans Warren Henderson and Wesley Henderson even pretended to root against their favorite team. They kept their “SF” hats stowed away for the evening.

Maybe they fooled their fellow spectators.

But their own hearts weren’t buying it.

“Inside,” Wesley says now, “I was really rooting for the Giants.”

There’s no more acting required: Derek Holland is one of them now, having signed with the Giants and securing a proper family reunion.

“Now I can say I’m living a dream with their favorite team,” Holland said recently.

The crazy thing is, neither of his Giants-mad uncles live anywhere close to the Bay Area. And other than a few fleeting visits to Candlestick Park in the late ’60s (for Wesley only), the bulk of the Giants “games” the uncles saw in person consisted of StratO-Matic simulations in their basement back in Ohio.

“Most of the time, I was the Giants manager,” Wesley recalled. “Because I always thought I could do a better job than the actual manager.”

Even now, they root from afar. Wesley, 60, works for the Postal Service in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Warren, 53, is an airline pilot in Arizona.

But, boy, do they ever love the Giants.

“They’re diehards, to be honest,” said Holland, who allowed five runs (three earned) over five innings against the Dodgers in his Giants debut last Saturday.

Holland, 31, impressed in spring and, in the wake of injuries to Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija, will spend the early season as the No. 3 starter.

Not long ago, Holland was one of the Rangers’ most dependable starters. He had his best season in 2013, when he had a 3.42 ERA over 213.0 innings, with 189 strikeouts and 64 walks.

Holland threw his fourseam fastball at around 95 mph in those days, but injuries put his career in jeopardy.

He pitched 135.0 innings for the Chicago White Sox last season. But his four-seamer dipped into the 91-mph range, and batters teed off. After a strong start, he faded and finished 2017 with a 6.20 ERA.

His velocity is still in the low 90s, but the Giants think he can reinvent himself thanks to improved command of his changeup.

“Last year, for some reason, he got really flat in his delivery. . You pitch the same plane and hitters are not going to be fooled,” he said. “[In spring], it was coming out of his hand a lot better, and it was definitely working downhill.”

Holland