Aug. 10th Holland (10-4) Vs. Vargas (6-10) preview

Today we have a battle of the lefties. Jason Vargas is on the bump for the Mariners, and has been less than spectacular this year, but his last outing against the Rangers led to 6 shut-out innings, and I don't think that would be good for the Rangers' cause. His ERA is a manageable 4.02 coming into his 24th start of the year. Opposing hitters are doing well against him, as he has a .259 average against, and walks have been a problem, allowing almost 2 per start this season. His fastball isn't overpowering, but his off-speed pitches will make plenty of hitters look foolish, so look for plate discipline to be key against Vargas today.

The young gun, baby faced Derek Holland takes the mound for the Rangers, looking to re-capture the swag that had him pitching back-to-back complete game shutouts only a few starts ago and shake the demons that wouldn't let him get out of the second inning his last time on the mound. Derek Holland sports a somewhat unimpressive ERA of 4.35 in his 23 starts this year, a number I'll attribute to his sporadic inability to get out of the early innings of ball games, and just as sporadically throw complete game shutouts. Opposing batters are hitting .269 against him, which isn't a great number, and he has a problem with giving free passes, allowing 47 walks so far this season. Holland throws a consistent 95 mph fastball that is hard to catch up to, which compliments his off-speed pitches well, and if he can get his big bender bending big, the strike-outs will start rolling in.

First pitch is at 7:05 P.M. CST