There was a feeling of inevitability last night. The few balls that were hit hard were hit right at the Rangers, and from about the 5th inning on, I spent most of my time thinking of tweets I could produce that would show that I was not mentally unstable about getting Perfectoed in the 2nd game of the season. I currently have pneumonia, so I did take my hallucinogenic cough syrup in the 7th, hoping that I would pass out before Darvish got his 27th consecutive out. (It didn't happen). For a history major, it was the happiest I've ever been about not seeing history being made.
But that's a lot of first-person thoughts, so let's shift this back to the Astros.
Not trying to be a homer fan-boy, but it's not as though the Astros were sat down in order 26 times by Ian Snell. There's a reason Yu Darvish is thought to be the best pitcher to ever come out of Japan. I know how much time he spent in Japan before coming over to the Rangers, but he didn't spend a day in the minors.
According to Carlos Pena, Darvish was throwing six different pitches at six different speeds, across every count. That would be difficult for any hitter to handle - no matter the team. Yes, the Astros are going to have a bad year. Yes, this validates what everyone who only halfway pays attention thinks about the Astros and their offense. But to write it off as "Silly Astros can't get a hitz!" does a disservice to just how dominant Yu Darvish was last night.
It's probably a good thing that the Astros have an early game today, just to get back on the field and put last night behind them as quickly as possible.
Quickly: Yu Darvish's 96 Game Score was the highest since Matt Cain's perfect game on June 13, 2012, when he posted a 101. With 15 strikeouts last night and 13 on Opening Night, the Astros have struck out 28 times. The last time they struck out 28 times in two games was May 31/June 1, 2003 when they struck out 14 times each against Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood.
Of the 28 strikeouts thus far through the season, Brett Wallace (6), Chris Carter (4), and Carlos Pena (4) have half of them.
On to the next one.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
