Yu Darvish

The Rangers and Detroit are about to face off in a four game set this weekend, but that is now what everyone is talking about. Everyone is talking about tonight’s match up of Rangers ace Yu Darvish verses Tigers ace Justin Verlander. It is a highly intriguing match up, that is unless you are an offensive player in this game. Baseball reference tells us that Yu is 6-1 with a 2.73 ERA. He has pitched 52.2 innings, struck out an astonishing 80 batters while walking only 18. He has a whip of 0.911, a SO/9 of 13.7, a WAR of 1.5 and a RAR of 16. Darvish is in the top five in the AL in wins, win/loss percentage, walks & hits per 9 innings, hits per 9 innings, and strikeouts.

Justin Verlander is 4-3 with a 1.93 ERA. He has pitched 51.1 innings, struck out 57 while walking 18. His whip is 1.208, his so/9 is 10.0, he has a WAR of 2.1 and a RAR of 20. Verlander is in the top five in WAR for pitchers and ERA. So what do all of those numbers tell us? That hits are going to come at a premium in tonight’s game. Both the Rangers and the Tigers are going to have trouble putting the ball in play or even making contact. It should be another one of those stressful, down to the wire type games. I think this is one of the most anticipated games of the young 2013 season so far. In a different way, it is kind of like the game last season when C.J. Wilson came back for the first time and faced off against Darvish. And we all remember how that turned out. Darvish waited out the rain delay and Wilson did not.

Well hopefully there will be no rain delay to worry about tonight, or for the rest of the series for that matter. Tomorrow pits Nick Tepesch (3-3, 4.03 ERA) against Rick Porcello (1-2, 6.68 ERA). Nick has had some ups and downs of late but I trust him to come through at home and get the Rangers a win. Porcello has had a bad season so far, and we can all only hope that continues Friday Night. Saturday has Justin Grimm (2-3, 4.28 ERA) facing off against Anibal Sanchez (4-3, 2.05 ERA). Now that Alexi is injured (that was kind of shocking news today after the way he pitched last night), The Rangers really need the young guys to come through and keep them in games. I hope that both Justin and Nick are able to do just that. Saturday will be tough because Anibal is having a very good season so far.

The Finale of the series has Derek Holland (3-2, 2.93 ERA) coming off of a great start going up against Doug Fister (5-1, 3.06 ERA). If Derek can pitch at all like he did in his last start and limit the home runs, he has a great chance of getting his fourth win of the season, but this is another game that I believe will probably go down to the pen to win, and the Rangers have the better pen.

All in all, this series of two first place teams is shaping up to be a very fun series to watch, I just hope it turns out that way.

August 11, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers pinch hitter Mike Olt (center) celebrates his walk off single with second baseman Michael Young (10) and relief pitcher Robbie Ross (rear) against the Detroit Tigers in the ninth inning at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers won beating the Tigers 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-US PRESSWIRE

Derek Holland was in tough against Justin Verlander tonight and it didn’t start well – Holland gave up a lead off homerun to Austin Jackson but then settled down in what was probably his best start of the year even though he only had a no decision to show for it but against Verlander, that may be as good as a win. Holland pitched 7.2 innings allowing only two hits after the Jackson homerun and struck out nine, walking one. That is exactly what the Rangers need from Holland as the season goes forward. The ability for him to bounce back and then just shut down a potent Tigers offense.

Ron Washington didn’t want to make the same mistake he made yesterday when he left a starting pitcher in too long. In the eighth inning, he went to Ogando who shut the door and then, in the ninth inning brought in Robbie Ross to pitch to Prince Fielder. Ross walked fielder and forced Mike Adams to work out of a jam which he did very well and allowed for Olt’s heroics in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The ninth inning was the bottom of the order working a run, which is also something the Rangers will need to be successful. The depth you see when a team is able to do that is the same thing that allows teams to successful in October. David Freese wasn’t a star before last year’s playoffs. Someone always steps up. When Nelson Cruz and Michael Young drew walks against Brayan Villarreal, Craig Gentry failed to get a sacrifice bunt down which was one of the first times he failed to step up in a big spot and then Geovany Soto struck out. Then, Olt was able to provide yet another big hit in his young Major League career and the first walk-off.

The fact that the Rangers were able to get a win in a game Verlander started is huge. The fact that they were able to have Holland go pitch-for-pitch with him was great and allowed their offense the time it needed to get the winning run on the board.

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