Dodgers @ Mets August 4, 2017: Happy Yu Darvish Day

(Via)

The moment you’ve been waiting for since … well, Monday … has arrived: Yu Darvish (4.01 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 3.06 DRA) is making his Dodgers (76-32) debut. He’ll be squaring off against New York staff ace, Jacob deGrom (3.29 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 2.91 DRA), one of the sole bright spots on a struggling Mets (49-57) team.

Dodgers
Mets
4:10 PM PT
New York
LF
Taylor
CF
Conforto
SS
 Seager
3B
Cabrera
3B
Turner
1B
Bruce
1B
Bellinger
LF
Céspedes
CF
Pederson
RF
Granderson
C
Grandal
2B
Walker
2B
Utley SS Rosario
RF
Puig
C
d’Arnaud
P
Darvish (R)
P
deGrom (R)

Let’s go ahead and get the negative out of the way: Darvish has not pitched in a game since July 26, and his final start before being traded was the worst of his entire career, as he allowed 10 earned runs in just 3.2 innings pitched against Miami. But disaster starts happen, and besides that, Darvish has had a mostly solid season. In his start prior to that, he struck out a season-high 12 batters in eight innings of three-run ball. Fifteen of his 22 starts this year have qualified as quality. His strikeout rate of 26.2% would be the lowest mark of his career, but it’s still well above league average (while his walk rate is just better than league average).

If you want some more in-depth analysis of Darvish, our own Dustin Nosler has you covered. Prior to the trade, Dustin examined Darvish’s value as a trade target. Dustin also wrote earlier today about Yu Darvish’s impressive pitch arsenal, complete with lots of fun GIFs. To put it briefly, though: Darvish is an accomplished pitcher with filthy stuff, and while this season has been his weakest so far, he’s still a very good pitcher whose presence makes the Dodger rotation much better.

Looking at the Mets’ side of things, deGrom has been nothing but very good since his Rookie of the Year debut season in 2014. He’s a formidable opponent (as you’ll likely remember from the 2015 NLDS), and he’s been on an especially impressive run of late. In his past nine starts, deGrom has a 1.73 ERA in 67.2 IP, with opposing hitters batting just .185/.228/.311 against him. This will be his first time facing the Dodgers since May of last year (a seven-inning, two run effort in L.A., and a seven-inning, one-run effort in New York).

As for tonight’s Dodger lineup, I’m not saying I think Chase Utley is in tonight’s lineup (over Logan Forsythe) because he’s hit .294/.373/.555 at Citi Field in his career, but I’m not not saying that, either.

——

It seems some guy named Sandy Koufax is in house for Darvish’s first start as a Dodger:

That’s pretty cool.

A roster update:

Waiver wire fever: catch it.

About Sarah Wexler

Sarah Wexler is a native Angeleno and longtime Dodger fan. She began blogging about baseball in 2012 on her Tumblr, New Grass On The Field, where she covered an array of topics but especially enjoyed exploring baseball history. She is now a reporter/producer for MLB.com. She earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. She's an avid Springsteen fan, which is a big boost to her baseball writer cred.