The Yu Darvish thread.

[CalYankeeFan]

With the Rangers offense, not even Yu Darvish can pitch them out of the game.

[awy]

seems to have settled down. a lot of 'lined out' though so idk

[Yankee Fan in Boston]

With the Rangers offense, not even Yu Darvish can pitch them out of the game.

He should buy something nice for Noesi for getting him off the hook

[snapple]

He looked shaky. Lets see how he is next start.

[ieddyi]

Looks like he'll have trouble with patient teams- a lot of the M's were getting themselves out. He settled down, but got lucky w/ a lot of atem balls

Didn't see too many curves- his repertoire seemed run of the mill, though he did have good velocity

[MoVaughnEatsAlot]

Looks like he'll have trouble with patient teams- a lot of the M's were getting themselves out. He settled down, but got lucky w/ a lot of atem balls

Didn't see too many curves- his repertoire seemed run of the mill, though he did have good velocity

This is exactly what I thought the whole time I watched him. Those Japanese hitters must swing at everything thrown at them.

[Snatch Catch]

110 pitches in that outing.

[ajra21]

His last innings were much more impressive given how many pitches he'd already thrown. That said, I did have a little smile of my face when I saw the first inning. Fully expecting whim to turn it around after one bad start. Still glad we didn't sign him to that contract.

[BronxYanks45]

bad 1st outing but he'll get it under control, unless he's Kei Igawa version 2.0

[ieddyi]

This is exactly what I thought the whole time I watched him. Those Japanese hitters must swing at everything thrown at them.

You'd give him credit if it was the quality of pitches causing the bad swings, but it jus looked like the M's were hacking at everything- pitches that had little movement, and obviously out of the zone

[NelsonMuntz]

From the highlights I saw it looked like he was over throwing in the first inning. He was missing up. It seemed like he settled down after that, although I'm basing it largely on his pitch count by inning after the 1st.

[Yankee Fan in Boston]

Looks like he'll have trouble with patient teams- a lot of the M's were getting themselves out. He settled down, but got lucky w/ a lot of atem balls

Didn't see too many curves- his repertoire seemed run of the mill, though he did have good velocity

I think it's early to say that. He's a young guy, and he certainly can learn from this experience and grow. But that's part of the risk of the contract -- they're paying for an ace (and replaced Wilson) with a guy who is making a big transition.

[35Knucklecurve]

The guy had to be nervous and he didn't get a chance to settle in - it was "Welcome to MLB, Kid" from the first pitch.

Buster Olney provided some interesting insight into what went on before the Rangers decided to empty the bank on him. They met with the Red Sox and went over everything that they did with Dice-K, hoping to prevent the same mistakes. He said that one thing that Darvish has going for him that Dice-K apparently didn't is that he seems to fit in well already. He will sit in on conversations teammates are having and randomly repeat a word he has heard to make sure he understands. While this really doesn't have much to do with pitching, it provides a comfort level, which certainly couldn't hurt. I think that contributed to Ichiro's success - not that he wasn't a phenominal player to begin with, of course.

Another point Olney made that I hadn't thought about, with regard to other differences between baseball in Japan and the US is that the longest road trip in Japan is probably about 40 minutes. Players who've been making 4 hour plane rides for years never really get used to it. Bottom line - there's more than pure talent needed to make the transition and really live up to the hype. We'll see just how good Nolan Ryan is at looking a the whole package.

[teknetic]

Wasn't nearly as terrible today, but he walked four. Velocity also seemed a bit down.

[THEBOSS84]

Wasn't nearly as terrible today, but he walked four. Velocity also seemed a bit down.

13 baserunners allowed in 5.2 IP.

So far he's allowed 25 baeserunners in his first 11.1 IP.

[awy]

adventurous

[H.Kokubo]

An aspect that is not mentioned much about Darvish that he would have to overcome is his immense ego / pride he has as being an elite pitcher.
He's so used to simply blowing his pitches by the batter so fine control is something he hasn't really had to worry about, plus his usual big mouth twitter and blog isn't exactly the most helpful thing he can have.
If he learns to adapt and accept the reality it may become better, but so far in his brief career he's only done stuff that has backfired on him.

[ieddyi]

The camera angle was really weird. It appeared to be straight on, but elevated a lot higher than the usual pitcher/batter shot. It was really hard to pick out the movement on his pitches due to the weird angle. It gave almost no clue as to the up and down movement of his pitches

Was interesting that they changed the start of his delivery- took away the over the head move and the delay that it seems like almost all Japanese pitchers have

Though a better outing, he's not showing ace stuff and I still think a patient team like the Yanks or sawx will give him fits

[H.Kokubo]

Though a better outing, he's not showing ace stuff and I still think a patient team like the Yanks or sawx will give him fits

I'm not sure if you even can say it was better than before.
His first outing against the Mariners, he settled down after the big inning and actually ended on a high note, where against the Twins he was messy through out the whole game, and came out with the bases loaded where the reliever actually did the cleanup for him.

On a random note, Darvish's next two opponents are scheduled to be the Tigers and the Yankees.

[just-blaze]

Only 2 starts, but I fail to see a difference b/t him and DiceK thus far.

[NYCrusader]

Only 2 starts, but I fail to see a difference b/t him and DiceK thus far.

Statistically in Japan Darvish was the superior pitcher by a good margin.

First year with the Red Sox Matsuzakas average fastball was 91.9

Darvish so far this year 93.2 topping out at 96

Just going strictly on fastball velocity the stuff is superior.

Also body type Darvish is 6'5" 215 while Matsuzka is 5'11" 185

[35Knucklecurve]

Statistically in Japan Darvish was the superior pitcher by a good margin.

First year with the Red Sox Matsuzakas average fastball was 91.9

Darvish so far this year 93.2 topping out at 96

Just going strictly on fastball velocity the stuff is superior.

Also body type Darvish is 6'5" 215 while Matsuzka is 5'11" 185

Taller pitchers usually have problems repeating their mechanics, so when you add in everything else, it may take awhile to know how good he really is. However, so far, I don't see anything that really jumps off the screen, unlike the first time I saw Strausburg. You knew you were watching someone who lived up to the hype. Ironically, Dice K's body type has historically been in that range for some of the most successful pitchers in MLB - 6' 0" to 6'2", 170-200 lbs.

[ajra21]

In Japan, I believe most hitters are simply trying to slap the ball about. He's probably just not used to seeing guys take a lot of pitches. This is a very simplistic assessment.

[effdamets]

In Japan, I believe most hitters are simply trying to slap the ball about. He's probably just not used to seeing guys take a lot of pitches. This is a very simplistic assessment.

Simplistic. But accurate.
In Japan, hitters are looking to entertain, not bore the crowd to death with walks....
America - well, you know.

[ieddyi]

Gotta give him credit, he dominated last night. Great selection of pitches