Derek Holland is makein people eat there words and is becomin the ace we thought he could be maybe not this year but i wouldent be surprised to see him claim the role of number one starter next year if he just keeps bein consistent he will be great keep it up Dutch....

2 straight shutouts is awesome and very hard to accomplish. Sure they were against AAAA lineups but still a wonderful surprise.

Amen, Kristen.

No need for knee jerk over reactions like I was guilty of before the last two starts. But this is a very nice surprise.

I want to believe so bad but it's OAKLAND and SEATLE. I hope he can do this against better competition.

Holland already has 3 complete game shutouts. That's more than what Roy Halladay has by 3!

I hope this is for real. I've never been a big believer in Dutch. I really hope I have to eat crow. Really really really. Yet we've seen him post fantastic starts against crappy offenses before. Many times before, in fact. And in fact, specifically against Oakland and Seattle within a 3 start span last summer, if I recall correctly. So, I'm going to need to see 3 or 4 more starts with no meltdowns and at least 1 more really good start, this time against a decent or better offense, before I really start to believe. Still, that was a WONDERFUL effort. Didn't matter whether Scooter or O'Day was in the bully tonight.

It is encouraging, no matter the opponent. Hopefully he(they) can keep it up. Anybody else ever think back to the day when the rangers decided to change their organizational philosophy, and bulid from within, and think to themselves "Fuck yeah". Doing things the right way has paid off. Just look at the abundance of young pitching talent this team has. This current run of success is awesome, and long overdue. Sometimes we, (we meaning people that care about baseball enough to read and post comments on the internet) get caught up in overanalyzing every front office decision made and forget about the big picture. JD, Nolan, Preller, Wash, and the entire scouting department and front office have done a fantastic job of making this team relevant again, as well as setting it up nicely for the future. Thank you JD, thank you Nolan, and thank you Wash. The Rangers are the model for successfully building a franchise. The next time we debate on Hunter/Harrison, or moving Ogando or Feldman around take a moment to think about how lucky we are. We could be debating about John Koronka/ John Rheinecker. #perspective

Scooby Dude, you must have forgotten his first Complete Game Shutout against MLB's hottest hitting team at the time.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290809103

The Angels had every batter at one point that season have an average over .300

Oakland, Seattle and LAAA are 3 of the worst offenses in all of baseball. Currently Seattle is the 2nd worst, Oakland 3rd worst, and LAAA 7th worst in runs per game, and that includes NL teams.

However, it is still impressive to pitch a complete game shutout, even against the dreck of baseball. Just keeping your pitch count low, and not having the typical Holland meltdown inning are huge steps forward. Hopefully we can seen more long inning starts by Holland in the future, Also, hopefully the rest of the rotation can take a cue and go long innings against the swilll that is Seattle, especially in Seattle. I wouldn't count on our offense being that generous all 4 games.

Terrific Performance..Little too early for ace talk though...Like to see a couple of outings where he gives up 3 runs without his best stuff instead of getting blown out of the water if he does'nt have it on a particular night.

Sorry, I should have clarified since I don't think anyone checked out that link.

Derek Holland's FIRST CAREER complete game shutout was against the Angels 2 years ago when the Angels were the hottest hitting team at the time. The Angels had every batter at one point that season have an average over .300.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290809103

By the way, Holland's first complete game shutout of THIS season was against the Cleveland Indians. They were 8th in runs scored in all of baseball and had the best record during that time.

Joey, He's makin' em Eat em er words man, didn't you know?

Would you consider it fair to say that baseball statistics, in small sample sizes, can be very misleading?

I'd consider it fair.

I certainly hope that Holland has turned a page and can continue to pitch well, but I would call it premature to say that Holland is an emerging ace.

Let's not forget that his first complete game shutout against Cleveland was nowhere near the same caliber as last nights gem.

I guess all that I'm saying is that I wouldn't get my hopes up. Historically, Holland has been a heart breaker.

Putting it All in perspective... I really like having Dutch & Matty, on the back end
of our Rotation. Plenty of room to progress, develop and mature, from those slots.
We'll see great & some @#$%, but a Starting Staff as Whole... we're only missing
The ACE~ Mr. Shutdown.

Agreed. That is Gospel. Look it up... HubZ 3:16

Speaking of another lefty with ace-potential, Martin Perez was promoted to Round Rock.

30% of our remaining 69 games are vs. OAK and SEA. Being able to shut those 2 teams down is important.

A(n) Emerging Ace

Yeah, but from Mid-August, to the 7th of September, it's
ALL Play Off Teams. Actually, August is going to make or
break us. There's not much relief in that remaining 70%.
We've got the rest of July to format this machine, as 2010.

Holland looked great last night, and I hope he has turned the corner. But here's what he has done against real teams this year. In 15.2 innings against the Yankees, he's given up 15 ERs. He also gave up 5 ERs to Tampa. He's had 2 good games against teams that have a shot at the playoffs, Cleveland and LAA.

Come playoff time, the question will be can our pitcher survive and thrive against the Yankees and Red Sox. At this point, the only pitcher on the Rangers who I am confident can do that is Wilson and perhaps Ogando if his arm holds up (a big if). I'm not ready to add Holland to that list and it may be a year or two before I am. So it wouldn't bother me if he were traded for someone who can produce now, while the Rangers still have Wilson and this great collection of hitters.

Holland was impressive last night, but two things bothered me, though small
it could have turned out a semi-disaster. 1) the walk. It was in his eyes. He was
obviously thinking 'perfect game' at that point. I could see the disappointment... then
came the hit by CHONE(sorry, weird name). 2) His statement about looking at the
scoreboard- losing his chain of thought. OK, so minor blips, but still a a maturity hedge.
As someone said earlier (PF) "That wouldn't happen with Cliff or Doc". I agree.
I was really proud of Dutch and didn't miss a pitch, in glee. 18 innings of shut out ball!

My rebuttle, or actually agreement, is that I do think he thinks about it. And I can't blame him. He will get to where he can shut it out. But to be 24 and know you have that potential so early into your career? And a guy pointed out Holland has 3 more shut outs than the NL All-Star starter (I ain't checked that, but I'll run with it). I'd never compare the two, but how old was Nolan when he had his first no-hitter?
How many years did he have in the MLB before that happened? The kid has talent. You want to be the Mets and watch what Nolan became expo facto? Not me.

I am not saying anything that hasn't already been said but I am not a buyer on Derek Holland until he can put together 4 or 5 starts in a row without melting down.

Also something that needs to be remembered is that he is just a kid. In a couple years, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he was the ace of this organization with Martin Perez right behind him.

The Rangers can't forget how they got so good. (Hint: with a great farm system) Once C.J. signs with someone else and Colby runs out of gas, the Rangers will be left with a rotation completely made up of prospects (Holland, Harrison, Ogando, Perez, and Erlin).

I don't know about you but I am excited to see that rotation embarrass the Yankee's rotation that they bought year after year.