Faith in Holland still firm
Armed with Black’s support, closer’s 36th save caps win over K.C.
KANSAS CITY, MO.» By his own admission, Greg Holland has failed to do his job the past two weeks, but that doesn’t mean the Rockies’ all-star closer is losing his job.
Manager Bud Black reiterated that stance via words, and more important by action, on Thursday. Black didn’t hesitate to use Holland in the ninth inning of Colorado’s 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Holland responded with a one-two-three ninth inning and recorded his 36th save.
Black’s show of faith came after a brutal recent stretch for Holland, capped by the veteran serving up a three-run, two-out walkoff home run to Eric Hosmer in a 6-4 loss Wednesday night. Afterward, Holland met with Black, pitching coach Steve Foster and bullpen coach Darren Holmes to discuss what’s been going wrong.
“It’s a combination of some mechanical things we discussed and a little bit of mind-set,” Black said. “When you have a few rough outings, it doesn’t matter who you are — Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, who I had, other great closers, Greg Holland — it can shake you a bit.
“The only way you can shake that is to get out there and convert. Greg did that today. Hopefully, moving forward, we’ll see more of what we saw the early part of the year.”
Holland converted 34 of his first 35 save chances while posting a 1.56 ERA. But in his last six games before Thursday, he had blown three of his four save chances, and also was saddled with a loss in a game that was tied when he entered.
“We talked,” Holland said, “and the guys told me: ‘This is what you were doing earlier in the sea- son when you were commanding the baseball and getting ahead of hitters, and we expect you to get back to that, because that’s who you are as a player.’ And hopefully this next five to six weeks, it’ll translate on the mound.”
Holland’s right index finger remains a bit swollen from a cut he suffered this month, but the Rockies say that is not an issue. Nor does Holland have any shoulder or elbow problems. Holland had Tommy John surgery in October 2015 and missed all of the 2016 season before signing with Colorado as a free agent on Jan. 28.
“Yes, he’s healthy,” Black said. “We can only go by what we see, what he tells us, and what we hear from our medical staff — postgame and pregame. All indicators are that he’s healthy. The cut finger is not an issue.” Fatigue, however, could be. “It’s a long year and we are in late August,” Black said. “This is the time of year when you do see the dog days kind of set in on players, and a lot of time it’s pitchers.”
Holland’s problem has been lack of pitch command, particularly his inability to make his slider behave.
“His arm feels good. He still has confidence,” Black said. “We’ve got to get him to the point where he’s locating the slider, locating the fastball and getting that last out or making that last pitch to get the save. That’s been the case the last three times when he’s been one out away, one strike away, and just hasn’t executed that pitch.”
Holland said he tried to not overthink when he took the mound Thursday afternoon.
“Typically, for me, when I do struggle with my command, I’ll start thinking about my delivery on the mound,” he said. “I’ve always been one to think that once you’re on the mound, you’re just competing.”