The Astros take their W1 streak into this evening's game against the Arlington Rangers, where I'm sure we'll be treated with a bunch of "Houston, Yu Have a Problem!" tweets before the end of the night.
Yu Darvish
*26-years old, 6'5" 225lb RHP from Habikino, Osaka, Japan.
*His father is Iranian, his mother is Japanese, and they met at college in St. Petersburg, Florida.
*He's in the 2nd year of a 6-year contract, and will make $9.5m this season.
*Darvish throws his fastball 47.3% of the time, with it averaging 92.8mph. He mixes in a slider, cutter, and curve equally. He got hitters to swing at 30.8% of his pitches outside the strike zone in 2012.
*In his much-hyped rookie season (All-Star, 3rd place Rookie of the Year), Darvish went 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA/1.28 WHIP, with 221K:89BB, and 3.9 WAR. His 2012 K/9 of 10.4 were 2nd in the Majors.
*Darvish was 6-7 on the road in 2012, with a 3.92 ERA/1.28 WHIP (remarkably consistent to his home splits of 3.88 ERA/1.28 WHIP).
*Darvish, 1st PA of the game: .545 OPS-against. 2nd PA: .729. 3rd PA: .642.
*He has only faced the Astros once, on June 15, 2012, and went 8IP, 7H/2ER, 11K:2BB in a 6-2 win over Houston.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
