Derek Holland & Karma
Sunday, Derek Holland gave up seven runs in just under seven innings, in what turned out to be his twelfth victory of the season. During the game, someone used Derek Holland’s Twitter account to reply to a critical Tweet about Holland’s performance with “ur a fag.” Derek Holland claimed he got hacked.
Now, maybe he did get hacked. Maybe there’s a Ranger-hating computer super-genius who cracked Holland’s password and gained unfettered access to Holland’s Twitter. At which point he… sent one tweet defending Holland with a slur, and then did nothing further. What an enigmatic, homophobic hack!
However, since 99% of all “hacked Twitter” stories are patently false (ask Anthony Weiner, or Ray Allen), it’s more likely that Holland or his fiancee (the only other person with the password) made the Tweet and then denied it. Much, much more likely.
How did the baseball gods feel about this? Well, when Derek Holland entered the game in the bottom of the 4th in Wednesday’s do-or-die game with the A’s, the Rangers were clinging to a 5-3 lead. Holland got two outs, then Coco Crisp hacked Holland’s curveball and hit a two-run double to right. Stephen Drew walked, and when Yoenis Cespedes popped to shallow center, it looked like Holland was going to get away with his recklessness, once again.
But Josh Hamilton overran the ball, or lost it in the sun, or the baseball gods reached down and nudged it off the hell of his glove, and an inning-ending pop-up became a two-run error. Holland trudged off the field down 7-5, and one can only imagine the slurs he hurled at Hamilton in the dugout. Holland was the losing pitcher, the Rangers lost the AL West, and while baseball is still investigating Holland’s Twitter activity, the baseball gods have already delivered their verdict. Don’t be a homophobe.
