Transitioning from Alex Young and Corbin Martin to Yu Darvish is like going from juggling a couple of tennis balls to attempting the revered art of Siva Afi otherwise known as torch juggling. After last night, some Dodgers would prefer to toss around flame engulfed knives at a luau than see another Darvish cutter in Petco.
Yu Darvish, Wicked 83mph Slider. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/QKy9teEz5w
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 22, 2021
Yu Darvish, 97mph Fastball and 84mph Slider, Individual Pitches + Overlay. pic.twitter.com/zw4GZdmP14
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 22, 2021
Besides a blast to center field from Mookie Betts in the top of the third, the Dodgers had no counterpunches for any of Darvish’s 7 pitches.
Mookie Betts is better than most people at the sport of baseball. Other sports, too. But specifically baseball. https://t.co/suDreLEUJb
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) June 22, 2021
Last night wasn’t just great-it was record breaking.
Yu Darvish is the first pitcher with 1,500 Ks in fewer than 200 games. pic.twitter.com/O8fNBZ51Oq
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) June 22, 2021
Darvish started the game by striking out 5 of the first 6 batters and his line ended at 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB and 11 strikeouts. Sadly this has been all too common for the 4x All-Star against the Dodgers this year.
Matter of fact he was even better in his previous two starts against the Dodger.
April 17th, he punched out 9 Dodgers in 7 innings and gave up 1 ER, 1 hit and 1 BB.
A week later on April 23rd, he clocked in another 7 innings of 1 run ball on 4 hits, 3 BB and 9 strikeouts.
In 20 innings Darvish has only given up 3 ER, and his 5:1 K/BB ratio is nothing short of absolute domination.
When the Dodgers see Yu Darvish 60 ft 6 inches away bats begin to:
Push up posies, become dead as a doornail, pay a debt to nature, take God’s advice and slow down, check out, shuffle off this mortal coil, blink for an exceptionally long period of time, serve as a worm buffet, head for the happy happy ground, find themselves without breath, be the incredible decaying object, kick the bucket and more simply die.
There’s an argument to be made that this should be taken with a grain of salt because the Dodgers were lacking Bellinger, Seager and Muncy last night, BUT he’s dominated against our premiere hitters.
Justin Turner VS Davish: 1-11, .167 OBP
Chris Taylor VS Darvish: 0-5, 4 K’s
Mookie Betts VS Darvish: 2-12, .167 BA, .231 OBP
Corey Seager VS Darvish: 0-6
Max Muncy VS Darvish 2-11, .182 BA, .250 OBP
It’s very transparent that the Dodgers have found their kryptonite and all fans can do is hope they come up with an answer before playoff time. If he’s the starter in game 5 of the NLDS or game 7 of the NLCS it might be curtains.
When Matt isn’t blogging about the Dodgers, he’s most likely yelling at his TV because of them.
Keep up with Matt on Twitter: @Mattweiner20
