Ex-Dodger Holton Is Learning Ropes in AL

When Brian Holton takes something off his fastball it’s like Rosanne Barr taking off two pounds.

Who really notices? Certainly not the audience.

The Baltimore Orioles’ right-hander doesn’t take high velocity equipment to the pitching mound. Instead of an 85 mph fastball, which is about the major-league average, Holton deals pitches that are closer to the legal highway speed limits.

He relies on curves, control and craftiness. And when his job is done, most of the time it is forgotten. His record is 2-5, which is as deceiving as his fastball. His earned run average is a respectable but not overwhelming 3.66, and he’s already been cast in three different roles this season.

Quickie quiz: Who was the winning pitcher in the Orioles’ opening day win over the Boston Red Sox? Yep, it was Holton. But since then, except for a 6-1 win over Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers on May 29, the positive side of his personal ledger has been bare.

Holton was the Orioles’ late-inning closer when the season opened, regressed to the anonymity of a long reliever shortly thereafter, and finally moved into the starting rotation out of necessity. While all this was going on he was dealing with the adjustment of going from the National to the American League as a result of the trade that sent Eddie Murray to the Dodgers.

Not exactly what you would call an easy transition. Yet, in a rather obscure way, Holton has managed to contribute, though it would be difficult to find the evidence in his record.

Take last Wednesday night for instance. He had a four-hit shutout in the top of the seventh inning but gave up a home run to Fred McGriff, a single to Lloyd Moseby and needed a strong relief effort from Kevin Hickey to avoid a possible loss. It was Holton’s seventh start of the season. His record in those games is 1-2. The hidden and vastly more important statistic is that the Orioles are 5-2 in those games.

At this point, Holton will settle for small favors while trying to get himself established in the starting rotation. “This was probably my best game of the season,” he said after the Orioles’ tense 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Between starts Holton made an emergency relief appearance against the Angels in Anaheim last Sunday, when he accomplished two things. He worked out some mechanical flaws in his delivery and pitched an inning without using his curveball for the first time in the major leagues. The pattern continued Wednesday night, but to the same extremes.

“I threw more fastballs than normal and was hitting my spots. And I also took something off the fastball,” said Holton. Before Wednesday night, taking something off his fastball might have seemed like a contradiction. “That’s true,” said Holton, “but it’s the name of the game with me. I have to get hitters swinging off their front foot.

“Before the game I told (catcher) Bob Melvin, ‘It’s your game, put your glove down and call what you want.’ The only time I shook him off all night was when he told me to.”

In addition to making the transition from starter (in spring training) to closer to middle man and back to starter, Holton has also been bothered by dizzy spells lately. “I was kind of in a fog out there,” he admitted. “But mentally I was OK. I had some tests done and my blood pressure and EKG were good.

“I’m glad it wasn’t as bad (humid) as last night (Tuesday night) because I probably would have run out of gas early.”

As far as the readjustment to his starting role, Holton feels he’s at the point now where he can be more consistent with the number of innings he pitches. “I’m fine now,” he said. “I’m in shape and I should be able to do what I did tonight.”

Which is about what Manager Frank Robinson would like to expect from each of his five starters. “If they can get us into the seventh inning,” said Robinson, “I feel like we can manipulate the bullpen from there.

“That was a good outing for Holton,” said Robinson. “The reason he was able to take something off his fastball is because he was throwing harder than he had before.”

Not that we’re talking breakneck speed here. “He was up around 83 (m.p.h.) most of the time,” said Robinson, “whereas before his fastball sometimes was in the 70s.”

That speed can be as dangerous on the pitching mound as it is on the highway.

“I’d say he threw 50% more fastballs,” said Melvin. “The guys around the league know he (Holton) is such a good curveball pitcher that’s what they’re thinking.”