Just about every starting pitcher in baseball, even the best of them, has a team or two that they just can't crack.
Yu Darvish is no different, but unfortunately for the Texas Rangers, his kryptonite just so happens to be the team that the Rangers have been trying to unseat in the AL West for the past three seasons.
On Tuesday night, entering his start against the A's in the midst of a great run of six starts, Darvish was once again owned by the A's, dropping his career record against Oakland to 1-8 in his 10 career starts. That's more than a trend, and it's not good when you want your ace going in your biggest games.
Darvish couldn't control his fastball on Tuesday and served up too many high ones. The result? A line that looked like this: 5 innings, 8 hits, 7 runs (4 earned), 8 strikeouts and 5 walks.
The A's clearly have a genius approach to Darvish, as he walks a lot more hitters in games against the A's than anyone else.
Heading into Tuesday's start, Darvish told reporters he had a chat with Rangers' special assistant Greg Maddux, a Hall of Fame pitcher in his day.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
"Greg Maddux told me last year that he didn't have any good numbers against Arizona through his career,'' Darvish said in looking toward his third start of the season against Oakland. "Just the fact to know that a great pitcher like him had a team that didn't have any good numbers against, that alleviated my thoughts.''
Again, it's no surprise. It's just against the wrong team.
