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The Texas Rangers have taken down the Tigers, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and now the Orioles on the way to a 21-11 start. The Orioles were off to a very hot start and are still only one game behind the Rangers for the AL Lead, record wise (tied with Tampa Bay). So, next the Rangers set their sites on the first showdown of the 2012 season with the Angels from somewhere in California. There was, as you all well know, some off season drama with the Angels. First, the Angels managment said they thought Texas was dumb for paying so much money for Yu Darvish (even though they mortgaged a State to get Albert Pujlos, which was dumb even before he stopped being able to hit). Then, everyone picked the Angels to win the West and be much better than the two time defending AL West and AL champ Rangers. Then of course, C.J. Wilson tweeted Mike Napoli’s phone number to all of his twitter followers as a “hilarous” prank, according to Wilson and the friends that he asked. Now that the Angels have started so far behind the Rangers, it is unlikely, however possible still, that the Angels will catch the Rangers or even make the post season (the Angels are 14-18). If the Rangers sweep the Angels this weekend, they will have a 10.5 game lead over them in May. That would be almost impossible to overcome for the Halos.
But I digress. The matchup that I really want to focus on tonight is the pitching matchup for tomorrow night. Yu Darvish vs. C.J. Wilson. The showdown between the guy we let go and the guy we replaced him with. Lets look at some of the numbers, in case you have not been keeping up with the Angels stats. C.J. Wilson has had a pretty good season so far as an Angel, he is in fact one of the only bright spots on their team so far. He is 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA, he has struck out 39 while walking only 15, and he has given up just 3 homeruns so far. He has allowed just over 6 hits per 9 innings in 2012. We all aready know that C.J. is a great regular season pitcher, so I expect tomorrow night to be a very low scoring game, especially seeing who the opposing pitcher he will be facing is. Yu Darvish is 4-1 with a 2.54 ERA, he has struck out 44 while walking 21, and he has given up 2 homeruns so far. He has allowed just over 8 hits per 9 innings in 2012. He does average more than 1 strikeout per inning, and the Angels have struck out a lot this season so far. I give the edge to Darvish in this matchup because he will be pitching at home and C.J. will be amped up because it is his first time back in the ballpark at Arlington since he pitched so badly in the World Series in 2011, and I know you Rangers fans are going to boo him tomorrow night. This is probably the most anticipated regular season start in Texas Rangers baseball history, or at least the biggest one that I can think of. So go to the ballpark tomorrow and enjoy yourself, or watch it on TXA 21 and enjoy yourself, but however you watch this game, be ready for the first of many regular season showdowns between these two teams! It’s Darvish time! #Yumania
