He made mincemeat of the New York Yankees and the hometown crowd gave him a prolonged standing ovation when he left the mound in the ninth inning. And, this time, Darvish knew the American baseball etiquette and tipped his hat to the fans in the stands.
His earned run average (ERA), the main statistical measure for a pitcher, continues to improve, as the accompanying chart shows. He is rapidly moving away from the horrid and embarrassing first game he pitched April 9.
His improvement shows in other ways as well. In the first three games, Darvish gave up 13 walks while racking up only 14 strikeouts. In the two games this last week, however, he gave up only four walks while racking up 19 strikeouts. That was a ratio of 4.75 strikeouts for each walk, considerably better than his Japanese career stat of 3.77 strikeouts per walk.
But Darvish is not parading his numbers. While everyone in baseball is giving him a break, saying it will take time for him to get to know all the strange hitters he must face, Darvish says he knows those same batters find him to be a stranger and are using the time to figure him out.
“I’m very aware that all these hitters on the teams that are facing me, they are seeing me for the first time,” Darvish said last week. “It’s only April. So, I’m not thinking about how I did this month. Right now, all I’m thinking about is preparing well for the next one.”
His coach, Ron Washington, is delighted. “Awesome” was the one-word summation Washington used last week.
Washington said, “Baseball is general. It’s played the same no matter where you are. He was a star in Japan and the stuff he had in Japan, it parlays over here.”
Darvish has now pitched in five games, and has been credited with four wins and no losses. Last week, he led the Texas Rangers to a 2-0 win in Texas over the New York Yankees and a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on the road.
