Holland ready to go and ready to reverse his season (Nats up 8-2)

Greg Holland last pitched on July 21, for the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. He gave up three runs to the Cubs, took a blown save and watched his ERA rise to 7.92. The Cardinals would go on to designate the veteran reliever for assignment, then released him after he cleared waivers.

Today, Holland is in a No. 56 Nationals jersey, active and almost certain to pitch at some point during their key doubleheader against the Braves, hoping he can turn around a season that hasn't gone anything close to his original plan.

"I don't know, it hasn't went well," Holland said. "But sometimes that happens. People struggle sometimes. So I'm excited. Kind of a fresh start on a new team, helping this club get to where it wants to go."

Holland was supposed to do that for St. Louis, which gave him a $14 million contract on March 31. Yes, after opening day, which left the 32-year-old behind the 8-ball from the get-go.

It showed. Thrust into his season debut only 10 days later, Holland suffered the loss against the Brewers. His ERA hasn't dropped below 4.26 since April 14. He walked 22 batters in 25 innings.

The Nationals are only on the hook for the prorated portion of the league minimum the rest of the season, with the Cardinals forced to cover the rest of Holland's salary. So there isn't much risk on the club's part, at least not from a financial standpoint. From a competitive standpoint, there's no "get your feet wet" period to offer right now.

"He's a veteran guy who knows how to get outs in big situations," manager Davey Martinez said. "So that's what we liked about him. He's a very personable guy. He'll fit very well in our bullpen and in our clubhouse. So I'm looking forward to getting him out there and watching him pitch."

Holland said he threw four or five times off a mound, sometimes facing hitters, over the last 10 days as he waited in limbo for an offer to come. The call from the Nationals came on Friday, and once Mike Rizzo and Scott Boras worked out details, Holland came to Washington and threw in front of the coaching staff and front office members Monday.

They aren't asking him to close like he did in Kansas City and Colorado, not with former Royals teammates Kelvin Herrera and Ryan Madson already here and Sean Doolittle hoping to return from a foot injury soon. But they are counting on Holland pitching important innings and bridging the gap from starter to the back end of the bullpen, essentially taking over the role held by Brandon Kintzler before he was traded to the Cubs last week.

"I talked to him the other day on the phone, and today again, and reiterated that his role will probably change here," Martinez said. "That I'm looking at him pitching the sixth, seventh inning. That when Doolittle's healthy, he's the closer. We have Herrera, which he knows. And we have Madson, which he knows, too. He's just really excited to be here. And if we get him and he's healthy, which we think he really is, he's going to help us."

Holland has experience pitching in bullpens deep in talent - in addition to Madson and Herrera, the Royals also had Wade Davis during their World Series run - and he knows he's not in a position to worry about his ego right now.

"I'll be ready whenever the phone rings," Holland said. "I've had some conversations about the sixth, seventh inning, but we've got a lot of different guys who have pitched in a lot of big games. I think the main thing right now is to just be ready to throw when your name is called. I'll be out there and ready to go."

Update: It's been a wild game here so far. The Nats lead 4-1 after four innings, but the drama began in the bottom of the third on one of the craziest plays you'll ever see. With Trea Turner on first base, Juan Soto launched a flyball to deep left-center. Ender Inciarte jumped at the wall and almost made the catch, but the ball deflected off his glove (and, it appeared, the wall) before ricocheting into Adam Duvall's glove. Turner, who had already rounded second base, had to sprint back to first and beat the throw. But then after a long conversation, umpires called Soto out, not because the ball was caught in the air but because it was still a live ball once the ball touched the wall, and because Soto "passed" Turner on the bases. Seriously. It does appear to be the correct call, but it sure was confusing in how it was explained.

That could've cost the Nats, but they made sure it wouldn't. Though the Braves scored the day's first run with a two-out RBI single in the top of the fourth, the Nationals responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman hit back-to-back homers, then three straight two-out hits later in the inning (one of them by Jefry Rodriguez) brought home two more runs. So it's 4-1 after five innings, and the Nats are turning to their bullpen to try to close this one out.

Update II: How about another four-spot for the Nats? This one came in the bottom of the sixth, moments after the Braves scored a run off Matt Grace to briefly trim the lead to 4-2. It didn't stay there for long. The Nats batted around for the second time in three inings, getting a sac fly from Anthony Rendon, another opposite-field RBI single from Harper and a two-run double from Zimmerman. Zim now has a homer and two doubles ... in the last three innings. Not bad. Nats lead 8-2, and here comes Holland to make his debut in the seventh.