The Rangers have a decent lead on the Angels in the AL West, but their putative ace has some issues. Indeed, Yu Darvish has stunk on ice lately.
Darvish allowed six runs on 11 hits and walked four in six and two-thirds last night, losing to the Sox. In five starts since the All-Star break, the Darvish has posted a 7.76 ERA and has walked 21 batters in 31 innings. He’s 1-4 in that time. Control is an issue for sure, but even his strikes have problems, says manager Ron Washington:
“They popped the ball around the ballpark pretty good,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “Yu threw a lot of strikes and when he put them in the strike zone, they didn’t miss them.”
A five game lead allows some room for that to get straightened out, but the Rangers will definitely want to see Darvish round back into first-half form before October rolls around.
