Rangers Win Series, Fail to Support Darvish Yet Again

An encouraging three-game win streak ended as the Texas Rangers came up with zero run support for the embattled Yu Darvish.

For the Texas Rangers, the weekend series versus the Angels provided an apt microcosm of a tumultuous season. Sure, they looked great in consecutive wins on Friday and Saturday night. In fact, Friday’s dominating triumph perhaps signaled a return to form for Cole Hamels. More on that later. But the fact remains that yesterday’s effort left a lot to be desired.

On a given day, you like your chances to win when your starter gives up two runs over seven-plus innings. But as is the case with most of Yu Darvish’s starts, the offense can’t hit their way out of wet paper bag. Yesterday’s 3-0 loss no doubt bolsters the haters’ flimsy case that Darvish isn’t worth the money it will take to re-sign him this coming offseason. That in itself is a bit irksome. The numbers suggest otherwise.

First, based on ERA, Darvish is a top-10 starter in the American league. To be fair, there are a few warts on his resume. Namely, I’m talking about 41 walks, which is the most among the pitchers in that group. That’s a lot of free bases to give away.

There are also the 15 home runs surrendered, which is also the most of the group. They’re not statistics you want to lead, but they’re also not runaway numbers. If I’m being fair, Darvish’s strikeouts and innings pitched are comparable to anyone. The body of work as a whole isn’t spectacular, but it’s very solid.

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Now, does this mean he’s a bona fide ace? Well, the answer is a little more nuanced than a simple yes or no. His start against the Yankees on June 23rd suggest he’s capable of ace-like production. But his clunker against the Red Sox on July 4th feeds this narrative that he simply doesn’t have the wherewithal to stand the heat a top-tier pitcher takes on a start-to-start basis.

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The reality is that the Rangers are focused on the here-and-now. With the American League West division championship a virtual impossibility, a wild card berth is what they’re playing for. The time for fretting about the roster is virtually pointless right now. Be they buyers or sellers, they’re more or less stuck stabbing at a playoff spot. This is our reality, for better or for worse. Make no mistake, if a place in the tournament is in the cards, so to speak, they need Darvish and a seemingly resurgent Cole Hamels at the top of their respective games.

Speaking of Hamels, Friday night’s start marked two in a row where he finally displayed the form he lost late last season.

In fact, he was downright dominant in both outings. If he continues this trend, there’s no reason to think he won’t give the Rangers a good chance to win every fifth game. In other words, a little consistency from Hamels at this point will go a long way. This is especially true in a year where team consistency is the exception, not the rule.

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The good news is that the Texas Rangers have several days to level set. Whether or not this propels them beyond their current level of mediocrity is anyone’s guess. What is certain is that there are 74 games remaining. In this year’s American League, that’s definitely enough time to separate and find a way into the postseason tournament.

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