Yutopia!
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - On January 18, Yu Darvish arrived.
On April 24, Yu Darvish arrived.
All the hype over the Japanese pitching import last night transformed into hubris, as the Texas Rangers' No. 3 starter looked like a confident Hall-of-Fame ace in stifling the New York Yankees in a riveting 2-0 victory in Arlington. Darvish came to Texas in mid-January to sign his $60 million contract. But on Tuesday night he finally announced his introduction.
Darvish had done and said all the right things, starting at spring training in Surprise, Ariz. when he seamlessly fit in with new teammates, even joking on a daily basis with shortstop Elvis Andrus. His pitching, however, had been underwhelming.
In his first start he gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning before surviving into the 6th. In his next two starts he pitched progressively better, each time finding too much trouble via too many walks. But last night he found it.
Against a powerful, patient Yankees' lineup that the night before had knocked Derek Holland out of the game, Darvish dazzled. He found trouble early again, but wiggled out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 3rd by striking out Curtis Granderson and getting Alex Rodriguez to bounce into a 3rd-to-1st double play orchestrated by Adrian Beltre.
Darvish threw strike one. Over and over again. He struck out the side in the 7th. He changed speeds from 69 to 97 mph. He issued only 2 walks. And, after leaving in the 9th and make room for closer Joe Nathan's 1-pitch save, he even showed he's getting more comfortable with American customs, tipping his cap as he headed to the dugout.
At 8.1 innings, it was the deepest a Rangers' pitcher carried a shutout against the Yankees since Bob Tewksbury in '95. It was the most excited Rangers' fans have been about a start since … who knows?
Despite the rocky initial inning two weeks ago, Darvish is 3-0 and his ERA has plummeted to 2.42.
Welcome to the party, Yu Darvish. Glad you could make it.
(Copyright 2012 CBSDFW.COM. - CBS Local a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved)
Also Check Out:
