Yu Darvish pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers
The American League champions Texas Rangers had their Cactus League game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, March 19. The prominent player to feature in it was Yu Darvish who was supposed to have his third spring start at Arizona.
The game was a relatively good show for the starter who gave up only a run in the four innings that he pitched. Being under the critical scrutiny, and eliciting much hope and sensation, Yu Darvish performed well against the National League champs.
However, Darvish’s spell on Monday had its share of irregularity too. He had three walks and a wild pitch thrown. This feature does not go unnoticed by the pitcher himself who is to replace C. J. Wilson in the rotation once the season kicks off for the Rangers this year.
"The way my body is working, my delivery, I can't really repeat it all the time right now," Darvish said through an interpreter. "The consistency is not there. That's why you see some good pitches and some bad ones. And I don't expect it to be perfect right now anyway. Those are some things I'm going to continue to plan on polishing as we go on.”
The three starts that Yu Darvish has had in the Cactus League have seen their share of ups and downs. But Darvish maintains that springs tend to be the way it is right now for him.
"Every spring, I'm usually not sharp. So my situation right now, I don't see much difference from previous springs."
All that the Texas Rangers expect from Darvish is to demonstrate the kind of performance he had in Japan whereby he dominated each and every team, remaining an exceptional pitcher throughout the season.
It is an interesting fact, nonetheless, that only few stars from Japan have made it to the Major League Baseball. This might well be due to the fact that the Japanese leagues do not entertain the idea of losing much of their stars.
Nonetheless, Darvish’s presence in the Texas Rangers will be a precursor of better things to come as the Rangers brace themselves to defend their National League title.
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