Leave Feldman In

In game one of the White Sox series Scott Feldman was pitching exceptionally. Through five innings he had allowed only one hit, and that one was not hit very hard. In the sixth the Sox mounted their first scoring threat. After Feldman retired Alexei Ramirez on a 4-3 groundout and struck out Scott Podsednik, it looked like another easy inning. Then weak singles by Chris Getz and Josh Fields, along with a walk to Carlos Quinten, the bases were loaded with Jim Thome coming up.

It was at this point that Ron Washington made the move that cost the Rangers the game, replacing Scott Feldman with Derek Holland. Yes, Feldman was in a jam. But there are a number of reasons why Feldman should have stayed in the game:

• Feldman had thrown only 77 pitches (51 for strikes). 
• He had allowed only three hits (all soft singles), 
• He is a groundball pitcher (10 groundouts to 4 fly outs on the night).
• Derek Holland is a flyball pitcher (4 groundouts to 10 flyouts on the season)
• Holland had made only two career appearances
• Jim Thome had 545 career home runs
• Thome last year had a higher slugging percentage against lefties than righties

I can understand believing in your young players, and I can understand trusting in Derek Holland's stuff. But Friday night Scott Feldman was exceptional...and I wish Ron Washington had believed in Scott Feldman's ability in that situation as much as Derek Holland.