Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish brought his best stuff to Citi Field on Friday, spinning seven masterful innings to put the Padres up 1-0, Jake Mintz writes.

[ Major League Baseball](/stories/mlb/2022-mlb-playoffs-max-scherzer-mets-fail-to-meet-the-moment-in-game-1-loss) Follow him on Twitter @ [Jake_Mintz](https://twitter.com/jake_mintz). [CespedesBBQ](https://twitter.com/CespedesBBQ) is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. [Rangers](https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/texas-rangers-team) paid a total of $110 million to secure his services, and for the first three seasons, he delivered. [Eduardo Escobar](https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/eduardo-escobar-player)’s solo shot, Darvish kept the baseball in the yard. But it also seemed at times, particularly during the beginning of his Cubs tenure and the back half of last season, that Darvish was chasing a ghost of himself. He was outrageously good pre-All-Star break in 2021, putting himself in the Cy Young discussion with a sub-3.0 ERA, but then, like the Padres, he imploded down the stretch. Moments later, with the count 0-2, Darvish froze Alonso with a picture-perfect cutter at the knees. But Darvish went right after the fearsome slugger, challenging him with a first-pitch sinker in the zone. His devastating four-seam/cutter/slider triad baffled hitters all game, eliciting tons of weak contact from a clearly uncomfortable Mets lineup. In front of a sold-out Citi Field crowd, with the energy high and the expectations higher, Scherzer crumbled against the Despite lacking his filthiest swing-and-miss stuff, Darvish refused to let the Mets back into the ball game.

More oddly specific museums. Apart from the standard offerings — the contemporary art museum, the Hakutsuru sake brewery — you'll find a museum dedicated to ...

Or learn about the history of motorcycles at the cheerfully named [Kawasaki Good Times World](https://www.khi.co.jp/kawasakiworld/english/). [music boxes](https://www.rokkosan.com/en/museum/) or [carpentry tools](https://www.dougukan.jp/about_architecture?lang=en) or antique (read: creepy) [dolls](https://www.feel-kobe.jp/en/facilities/detail/?code=0000000072). Visit the [UCC Coffee Museum](https://www.ucc.co.jp/museum/english/), where you can order an ultra-rare 10,000 Japanese yen pour-over from the French island of Réunion (roughly $70, a relative bargain with the dollar’s surging exchange rate). [contemporary art](https://ytmoca.jp/en/) museum, the [Hakutsuru](https://www.hakutsuru.co.jp/english/culture/museum.html) sake brewery — you’ll find a museum dedicated to [lamps](https://www.feel-kobe.jp/en/facilities/detail/?code=0000003452) and another to the [glass used in lamps](https://www.lampwork-museum.com/wp/en/about_en/) and another to [Anpanman](https://museum.anpanman-acm.co.jp/en/), the popular cartoon character whose head is a sweet bun filled with red bean paste.

At 36, Darvish might be pitching as well as ever. And, largely because of his studiousness, he might be enjoying himself more than ever, too.

And there was something else he had often discussed since he fired six no-hit innings on Opening Day. 3, he recorded his 3,000th professional strikeout, joining Hideo Nomo as the only players to reach the milestone between careers in Japan and the U.S. A week after that, in a game at Coors Field, Darvish was throwing both upshoot sliders and an uncanny imitation of Gallen’s curveball — down to the velocity, spin and movement.

It is well documented the New York Mets have never beaten Yu Darvish. Not once. Now, he is taking the mound in Game 1 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series ...

So yes, the Mets have never lost to Darvish. While the Mets have not beaten Darvish, there are Mets players on this team who have had success against Darvish. That should not come as a surprise, as Darvish is a pitcher who records a lot of strikeouts. Like any pitcher, Darvish will make mistakes, and as we see with this lineup, when he makes them, they have capitalized on them. Luckily for the Mets, Starling Marte is on the Wild Card roster after missing time with a fractured finger. Of course, there are some who have not had much. However, Darvish has never pitched against the lineup the Mets are going put out there in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Seeing this team’s ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark against him, and with Scherzer on the mound, you have to like the Mets chances. Fortunately, the Mets have [Max Scherzer](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/scherma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=&utm_medium=referral), but as we saw in July, that is not always enough. However, there is something beyond those strikeouts. This team needs that against a pitcher this franchise has never beaten. [Yu Darvish](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/darviyu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=&utm_medium=referral).

Pete Alonso's first swing on the first pitch he saw in his first postseason game was a good one. He sent the offering from Yu Darvish deep down the ...

Alonso struck out in his second at-bat, too, in the fourth inning. It flew to the netting covering the farthest corner of the Mets’ dugout. Alonso swung through the next pitch and took the third one for a called strike three. Pete Alonso’s first swing on the first pitch he saw in his first postseason game was a good one. He allowed one run and four hits in seven innings on July 22 at Citi Field. It was not a three-run home run, just a long, loud strike.

NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish said Thursday he felt good ahead of his start against the New York Mets' three-time Cy Young A.

I'm honored to face him." If I can pitch the way I usually do, I'll be OK." "I've been in good form up until now," Darvish said.