When the Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish just minutes from the trading deadline Monday there were those who looked at his numbers and shook their heads. 6-9 with an ERA above 4.0? A disaster start against the Marlins his last time out?
Darvish quieted all those fears last night, tossing seven shutout innings of three-hit ball and struck out 10 in shutting down the Mets in a 6-0 win.Chris Taylor, Yasiel Puig and Chase Utley went deep to give Darvish all the support he needed, but he didn't need much, showing a dazzling display of pitches and pinpoint control, walking only one batter.
Darvish confirmed he was tipping his pitches against Miami in his last start, helping the Marlins rack up 10 runs against him. He said he appreciated the scouts and journalists who pointed out his tipping so he could correct the mistake.
With Clayton Kershaw making progress in his back injury recovery the Dodgers could be scary good in the playoffs with Kershaw, Darvish, Alex Wood and Rich Hill taking the mound with Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu also available to take the hill.
If the playoffs started today, the top-seeded Dodgers would meet the Wild Card winner between Arizona and Colorado in the NLDS and then meet the Washington-Chicago winner in the NLCS.
The Nationals and Cubs loom as solid contenders with Chicago recovering from a sluggish first half to overtake Milwaukee in the second half. I give the edge to the Cubs, setting up a rematch with the Dodgers from last year's NLCS.
In the American League, Houston and New York are lining up for a first round series with the winner meeting the Boston-Cleveland survivor. Look for Houston to take down the Yankees and then Boston to get to the World Series, setting up a Los Angeles-Houston matchup for the championship.
Hey, a guy can dream. It's only been 29 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment