TORONTO – The night began with curious grins and befuddled looks for the Toronto Blue Jays and it had nothing to do with Yu Darvish.
No, it was Kyle Drabek taking the mound to Toby Keith’s drinking anthem “Red Solo Cup,” that seemed to catch his teammates by surprise, causing some to shake their heads in laughter, others to point to the sound system wondering what, exactly, was up with the country jam.
From that point on however it was Darvish who puzzled them; the great free agent hope promised to them by rumour and industry speculation back in December, but ripped away by the Texas Rangers’ determination.
The Japanese sensation lived up to his billing for a second straight start with seven dominant and overpowering innings Monday night, allowing just four hits, one of them an Edwin Encarnacion home run, while walking two and striking out nine in a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 21,945.
Just like the New York Yankees did last week, the Blue Jays saw substance behind the Darvish hype.
“He was as good as advertised,” said manager John Farrell. “A well-pitched game on his part.”
And if at any point Monday Farrell, his players or the team’s fans wondered what might have been, they weren’t alone.
“Honestly, it was kind of an awkward feeling because rumour has it this was a team that might have posted for me, and there was some chance I might have played for this team,” Darvish said through a translator. “Facing the Blue Jays, they could have been my teammates.”
It didn’t turn out that way and the Blue Jays (12-11) never really threatened a big inning against Darvish (4-0) and the scorching Rangers (17-6), as they failed to get their first hit until the fourth when Encarnacion homered for a fourth straight game, while only managing to put multiple runners on twice.
Adam Lind reached on a walk and Encarnacion was hit on the upper left arm (almost the identical spot in which he was struck Sunday) to open the second, but Darvish buzzed through Eric Thames, who flew out weakly to left, and Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia, who both struck out meekly.
It was more of the same in the seventh, when Encarnacion singled – the ninth straight plate appearance in which he reached base – and moved to second on Brett Lawrie’s one-out walk, but Rasmus again struck out and Arencibia popped to second to end it.
Encarnacion, whose streak of reaching base ended with a strikeout in the ninth, was the only Blue Jays hitter to really give him trouble.
“The guy’s got good stuff and you haven’t seen him before; there’s a huge advantage to the pitcher there,” said second baseman Kelly Johnson, who struck out twice and flew out a third time in three at-bats against Darvish. “He was throwing lots of pitches for strikes, mixing it up – definitely had a hard time just sitting on something. He did his job.”
There’s no debate about that, and it meant six strong innings of two-run ball from Kyle Drabek (2-2) went to waste.
The sophomore right-hander flashed his own ability to overpower his opponents, striking out nine, but the Blue Jays couldn’t overcome the RBI doubles he surrendered to Nelson Cruz in the second and Elvis Andrus in the third.
“I thought I was able to command my fastball a lot better than the last two outings and I had my cutter working; that was probably my best pitch for me,” said Drabek. “Some hard hit balls, but I’m happy with where my fastball command was at.”
The Rangers put things further out of reach in the seventh, when Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry went back-to-back to open the frame against rookie Evan Crawford, pretty much sealing the deal. Mike Adams pitched a scoreless eighth and Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his sixth save.
Whether or not the Blue Jays actually submitted a bid for Darvish’s negotiating rights – a trustworthy source told sportsnet.ca back in December they did – their actions at the time remain shrouded in mystery.
The Rangers, meanwhile, clearly went all in, exceeding the record US$51 million post the Boston Red Sox paid for Daisuke Matsuzaka with a bid of US$51.7 million, before signing Darvish to a US$56-million, six-year deal.
In settling on their bid number, general manager Jon Daniels said the Rangers moved a past what they felt comfortable with, but decided if they were going to get beat, they’d get beat with their best on the table.
“When it comes to the post, there was a psychological draw to where the Dice-K bid came in, so in the end we beat it by a little bit,” Daniels explained. “In our conversation, in free agency or a trade you can try to outbid second place by a little bit. Obviously the agent or another team would love you to double the offer they have, but it usually comes out relatively close. You’ll be 10 or 15 per cent more than second place.
“In posting it’s a truly blind process, so you have to have that conversation. Here are the teams we know have scouted him, here is who we think is interested. We have no idea who is going to bid what, but knowing that, at the end of the day you have to be thrilled to win by a dollar but be OK if you beat it by a lot more than that.”
Outside of the commissioner’s office, no one knows how much they beat the second-place bid by at this point. But through Darvish’s first five starts, there’s some reason to think that regardless of what it was, the posting price may have been worth it.
