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ARLINGTON, Texas – Two of the top rookie pitchers in the majors will take the mound Wednesday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. A look at the Yu Darvish-Tommy Milone matchup:

Darvish (5-1, 2.84 ERA): The Japanese phenom is tied for second in the American League in wins and ranks fourth in strikeouts (51), the seventh most since 1918 by a pitcher through his first seven career starts, according to baseball-reference.com. Darvish has struggled with command, allowing 4.87 walks per nine innings, the fifth most in the major leagues. But he’s often been dominant, especially since he struggled in the first two innings of his debut. Darvish has a 1.91 ERA since those rocky first two innings.

Milone (5-2, 3.92 ERA): The 25-year-old lefty doesn’t generate a tenth of Darvish’s hype, but Milone has been impressive in his own right. He has a lower batting average allowed (.220) and WHIP (1.08) than Darvish and has pitched only 2/3 of an inning less through seven starts. However, Milone has struggled miserably on the road, where he has a 7.94 ERA in four starts. He is 3-0 with an 0.39 ERA in the cozy pitcher confines of his home park.

Hitters: None of the A’s have faced Darvish. None of the Rangers have faced Milone.

Up next:
Thur. vs. Oak.: LHP Matt Harrison (4-3, 5.23) vs. RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-3, 2.56), 1:05 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1540/FSSW
Fri. at Hou.: RHP Neftali Feliz (3-1, 3.32) vs. LHP Wandy Rodriguez (3-3, 1.99), 7:05 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1540/TXA 21
Sat. at Hou.: LHP Derek Holland (3-2, 3.78) vs. RHP Lucas Harrell (2-3, 4.40), 6:15 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1540/FOX

Let’s go back in time to when Hall of Fame right-handed starting pitcher Ferguson Jenkins toed the pitching slab for the Texas Rangers as well as the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox in his 19-year career that spanned from 1965-1983. Sometimes you need the time travel to put the present in perspective, such as trying to figure out who Josh Hamilton is comparable to in baseball lore.

PODCAST
On Rangers Magazine, Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins compares Josh Hamilton to other baseball greats and discusses his time with the Rangers and other topics. Listen

“He’s like Willie Stargell with Pittsburgh or Billy Williams with the Cubs,” Jenkins said. “A guy that doesn’t strike out a lot, makes contact, hits home runs, drives in runs, clutch hitter. Willie McCovey was another player like that.”

Last weekend, the Rangers turned back the clock to 1974 and wore throwback uniforms when they play played the Los Angeles Angels. Also, the Rangers welcomed back several members of that 1974 Billy Martin-managed ballclub that placed second in the American League West with an 84-76 record.

Jenkins, among those who returned to Arlington over the weekend, won 25 games for that ’74 squad and finished second in the Cy Young voting behind Oakland’s Catfish Hunter and ahead of Nolan Ryan, who was pitching for the Angels. Jenkins was a guest on Rangers Magazine (weekends on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM) when he talked about Hamilton and those Hall of Fame left-handed hitters.

Stargell played all of his 21 Major League seasons with the Pirates. The first baseman was a .282 career hitter, the 1979 National League MVP at the age of 39, and he won two World Series. Williams led NL left fielders in assists four times and was consistently among the top 10 RBI producers in the '60s. McCovey was the NL OPS leader from ’68-’70, earned the NL MVP in ’69, and the Giants' first baseman finished his career with 521 home runs.

In our Rangers Magazine conversation, Jenkins discussed being traded to the Rangers, working with rookie catcher Jim Sundberg, being managed by Martin, his teammates such as American League MVP Jeff Burroughs, the current Rangers including Yu Darvish, and more. Listen to the podcast.

Bryan Dolgin is the host of Rangers Magazine on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM. He also hosts the Rangers radio pregame and postgame shows on the Texas Rangers ESPN Radio Network. Follow him on Twitter: @RangersRadioBD.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Don’t hold your breath waiting for Ron Washington to express regret for resting two regulars in each loss to the Royals.

Washington certainly didn’t second-guess himself after keeping Ian Kinsler and Mike Napoli out of the lineup for Monday’s loss. Tuesday’s lineup, which didn’t include the sizzling duo of Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz, made that clear.

"I've still got a potent lineup," Washington said before Tuesday’s loss. "I've got enough. If I do one at a time, it will take forever. This is important.”

The leftovers lineups didn’t exactly back up Washington. The Rangers scored a total of five runs while being swept in the two-game series by the Royals.

But these decisions weren’t designed to give the Rangers their best possible chance of beating the Royals. They were designed to maximize the Rangers’ chances of beating the teams they’ll see in the postseason.

“We need them for the rest of the year, not just in May,” said Washington, who also plans to give Josh Hamilton a day off this week.

This isn’t a case of coddling players. Far from it.

Rest assured that Cruz didn’t ask for his first day off all season immediately after homering in back-to-back games for the first time this year. Kinsler and Andrus made it clear that they wanted to be in the lineup but were following manager’s orders.

PODCAST
Ron Washington explains why resting players this early in the season is important and gives his view on whether Yu Darvish is the Rangers' ace. Listen

Washington makes giving his stars occasional mental and physical breaks a priority because he expects the Rangers to make a postseason run.

No, it didn’t work with the Royals in town. But it worked out awfully well while the Rangers won the American League pennant the last two seasons.

If the Rangers are fresh in October again, there won’t be any complaints about a couple of punchless losses to the Royals in May.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- As far as Michael Young is concerned, slumps are mythical creatures.

Never mind the fact that the Rangers' all-time hits leader is hacking away below the Mendoza Line in the last 22 games. Young is 18-for-92 (.196) in that span, dropping his season batting average from .414 to .280.

"I've never really bought into the idea of slumps," Young said. "There are going to be times you just don't get the results that you want in this game. It's just the nature of the big leagues. But what you've done in the past has nothing to do with what you're going to do the next game. You're allowed to wipe the slate clean and get back to work the next game."

Young will wipe the slate clean after Tuesday's 0-for-4 outing and get back to work against the A's. He says he feels "great" at the plate and anticipates the results will reflect that soon.

"All I look for is my next at-bat," Young said. "I make my adjustments pitch to pitch and at-bat to at-bat. I look forward to my next at-bat and expect things to go my way."

A few more leftovers from last night's loss to the Royals:

*The Rangers were swept in a home series for the first time since dropping four games to the Baltimore Orioles in July 2010.

"It's two games, two games," said Colby Lewis, the losing pitcher Tuesday night against the Royals. "I'm not really worried about it. Who cares? It's not even a full series. I wouldn't even call it a series. I mean, would you call it a series if they came here for one game? Would you call it getting swept if we lose one game in a makeup? I don't know. Whatever."

*The Rangers allowed seven unearned runs in the series against the Royals, which was two games, two games. They had allowed a total of 11 unearned runs in the first 35 games this season. A pair of errant throws by Lewis to first base led to five unearned runs Tuesday. It was the first time a Texas pitcher had two errors in a game since Lewis on Sept. 15, 2010 against Detroit.

*Ian Kinsler became the first Ranger with multiple steals in a game this season when he swiped second and third in the fifth inning. Kinsler, who has five stolen bases this season, was also the last Ranger with multiple steals in a game, pulling off the feat Sept. 25 against Seattle.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- There isn't a panic button in Ron Washington's office. You can't find one anywhere in the Texas Rangers' clubhouse.

That isn't going to change because an American League afterthought like the Kansas City Royals came to town and swept a two-game series. The Rangers' relentless optimism isn't going to fade just because a team now tied for the AL's best record (23-14) is a game under .500 since its 13-3 start.

In fact, Washington and his group of grinders find words like "worry" and "concern" funny, especially in the middle of May.

"Don't jump off the ship," Washington said with a grin as he headed back to his office following his postgame press conference after Tuesday's 7-4 loss to the Royals. "You'll sink. We'll return as a submarine and you can't get back on."

The Rangers have overcome a heck of a lot tougher situations en route to morphing into one of baseball's model franchises over the last few years.

Heck, just look back at their road to the club's first World Series, when the revelation of the manager's one-time cocaine use was a spring training stunner, the franchise's bankruptcy and rocky ownership transfer dominated headlines for most of the regular season, the Rangers almost blew a 2-0 lead before recovering to finally win a playoff series and they coughed up Game 1 to the mighty Yankees with a bullpen meltdown only to rebound by dismissing one of the most storied franchises in baseball.

It was that season that the Rangers started constantly referring to themselves as resilient. That's become part of their identity since then as the core has continued to play together and grow stronger.

Resiliency really is a combination of confidence and grit, two characteristics that can be found in abundance in the Rangers' clubhouse.

"We feel like we're always one pitch from turning anything around," Michael Young said. "That's one reason why I think we're a really good team.

"We believe in ourselves. Every guy individually here knows what they're capable of doing in this game. You combine that with some mental toughness and you're always one pitch, one at-bat, one swing from getting right back to where you want to be."

The Rangers are right where they want to be at the moment, sitting atop the AL West standings as the second-place Oakland A's come to town. Texas just hasn't played good baseball consistently over the last month.

The Rangers will report to work Wednesday afternoon expecting that to change for the better. That's just the way Wash's Rangers roll ... or float.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Colby Lewis' pitching wasn't the problem Tuesday night. At least, that's the way Ron Washington viewed it from the home dugout.

According to the skipper, the biggest issue in the Rangers' 7-4 loss to the Royals was Lewis' befuddling failure to be able to throw the ball to first base.

Lewis made two throwing errors -- one on a routine comebacker in the first inning, the other on a pickoff attempt in the second -- that opened the floodgates early. The Rangers never recovered or came close to threatening the lead, sealing the Royals sweep in the two-game series.

Other than those errors, Washington was relatively pleased with Lewis' performance.

"That's five runs off the board," Washington said. "That's the way I look at the game."

Here's the problem: The Royals still hit Lewis hard.

Not quite as hard as the Orioles in Lewis' last start, when he got rocked for five homers despite racking up a career-high 12 strikeouts. The Royals only left the yard once against Lewis, who is tied for the major league lead in homers allowed with 12, but Kansas City also had four doubles. Lewis gave up seven runs on eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.

"They did a good job of hitting them where we weren't," Lewis said, apparently referring to hard-to-reach spots like the outfield walls.

Only two of the runs allowed by Lewis were earned, but this outing continued a disturbing trend for Texas' Opening Day starter. It is the third consecutive start that Lewis has given up at least six runs in a loss, a stark contrast to allowing a total of seven runs while going 3-0 in his first five starts of the season.

"He hit a bad stretch and we're going to fight through it," Washington said after being pressed on the issue of Lewis being hit hard after the errors. "We're not going to get concerned about anything. We're going to do what we always do -- go to work and try to correct things. It's a long season.

"Next time he goes out there, you never know, it might be the beginning of him rattling off three or four (great starts). That's the way we think."

Added Lewis: "It's just a little spell or hiccup or whatever. I'll bounce back from it and move on."

The errant throws to first can be called a hiccup. The balls hit hard after being thrown down the middle of the plate? That's an issue Lewis needs to correct.

ARLINGTON, Texas – A sub-.500 club swept a two-game series on the road against the best team in baseball? As Ron Washington would say, that's the way baseball go.

L for Lewis: Lewis kept throwing pitches right over the middle of the plate in the first couple of innings, but he couldn’t make an accurate throw to first base. He had a throwing error in each of the first two innings, which were critical plays as the Royals built a 5-0 lead. All five of the runs were unearned, even though Kansas City had four hits and batted around the lineup in the first inning. Lewis finished with a line of seven runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks, a night that was kind to his ERA considering the poor quality of the performance. It was the third consecutive start that Lewis has allowed at least six runs.

Doubles damage: Lewis allowed only one home run -- a solo shot by Mike Moustakas in the third inning -- to finish the night tied with the Angels’ Ervin Santana for the most homers allowed in the majors this season (12). The Royals did a lot of their damage against Lewis with doubles. Kansas City had four doubles off of Lewis, with Jarrod Dyson, Jeff Francoeur, Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer each hitting one.

Hamilton hit streak: Josh Hamilton singled to left field in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the majors. It is the second longest hitting streak of Hamilton’s career. He had a 23-game streak in June 2010. Hamilton also had a sacrifice fly to deep center field to pad his majors-leading RBI total (45) and displayed a couple of his other tools, scoring from first on a double down the right-field line and throwing out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double.

A sorry streak: The two-game sweep by the Royals marks only the second time this season that the Rangers have lost consecutive games. Texas lost three in a row from May 1-4, dropping two in Toronto and the series opener in Cleveland. The Rangers are 8-4 in series this season.

Mediocre vs. Mazzaro: The Rangers didn’t take advantage of seeing a spot starter who was recently called up from Triple A. Kansas City’s Vin Mazzaro lasted five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk.

Murphy just misses: With two outs and runners on the corners in the first, David Murphy drove the ball to deep left-center field. Just not deep enough. Jarrod Dyson made the catch with his back against the wall. It was two feet away from being a three-run homer, but it ended up being just a long third out. Murphy hit the ball hard again in his next at-bat and was rewarded with an RBI double.

MY's misery: Michael Young's slump continued with an 0-for-4 night. He is 18-for-92 (.196) in the last 22 games, dropping his average from .414 to .280.

0s for Ogando and Koji again: Alexi Ogando pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings, striking out two during his 13 consecutive scoreless outing. Ogando has thrown 15 1/3 innings during that span, lowering his ERA from 1.93 to 0.45. ... Koji Uehara pitched a perfect eighth to extend his scoreless streak to 9 1/3 innings.

Tidbits: The Rangers fell to 10-8 at home. They are 13-6 on the road. ... There were 14 Rangers retired in a row before Brandon Snyder's pinch-hit home run with two outs in the ninth. ... Elvis Andrus' streak of 32 straight games reaching base ended when he grounded out to end the game as a pinch hitter. ... Mitch Moreland beat the shift by slapping an RBI single to the right of third baseman Mike Moustakas, who was the only Kansas City infielder playing on that side of second base. … Alberto Gonzalez did a pretty good Elvis Andrus impression at shortstop in the seventh inning, diving to his left to field a hard-hit grounder by Francouer and making a perfect throw to rob the ex-Ranger of a hit. … Announced attendance was 37,210 humans and 786 dogs. … Standing room tickets and a limited number of obstructed view seats are available for Wednesday’s game against Oakland. Obstructed view seats and scattered singles are available for Thursday’s homestand finale.

Up next: Yu Darvish faces Oakland lefty Tommy Milone in the opener of a two-game series against the A’s, the second-place team in the AL West. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest and ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers and Royals wrap up a two-game series. Let's chat all about it. The room is now open for you to post some early questions and participate in polls. We'll start chatting closer to game time. The game starts at 7:05 p.m. on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM and FSSW.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Want to get Ron Washington grumpy? Ask him about his pitchers bunting.

It was a topic of conversation Tuesday because the Rangers’ pitchers worked on bunting in batting practice in preparation for this weekend’s interleague series in Houston. It’s a sore subject because Boston manager Bobby Valentine suggested that Colby Lewis' failure to execute a bunting/slashing situation in Game 6 cost the Rangers a World Series title.

Lewis bunted into a double play in the second inning of that game. St. Louis shifted its defense to put third baseman David Freese close to the plate, and if Lewis had properly read the situation, he would have pulled back the bat and swung away, aka slashing.

Valentine bluntly mentioned that to Boston reporters while Red Sox pitchers worked on bunting fundamentals during spring training, which didn’t exactly get the former Rangers manager added to Washington’s Christmas card list.

“Bobby’s running his team; I run this one,” Washington snapped when the subject was broached Tuesday. “Slashing is definitely a part of their process, but if a pitcher is not used to being to the plate and that situation arises and he doesn’t react to it, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a part of what we do. He didn’t react to it. He had the OK to slash if that happened. He didn’t react to it.

“So some people don’t know what the hell they’re seeing and what the hell they’re talking about.”

Other notes:

*Scott Feldman will be unavailable for two or three games after making a spot start Monday. Lefty rookie reliever Robbie Ross is only available for a one-batter situational appearance tonight after pitching 2 1/3 innings.

*After all the hype about the Angels-Rangers rivalry, it’s the Oakland A’s who are sitting in second place of the AL West, four games behind the Rangers. “Wow, they’re playing some good baseball,” Washington said of the A’s, who arrive in Arlington for a two-game series Wednesday. Washington said he never thought that the AL West would be a two-team race.

*Nelson Cruz was one of 12 players in the majors who had played every inning in the field this season until he was given the day off Tuesday. He had started every game in right field for the Rangers.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Eric Nadel, a Rangers announcer for the last 34 years, will be part of the franchise’s lore forever.

The team announced Tuesday that Nadel will be the 15th member of the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame. He will be officially inducted before the Aug. 11 home game against the Detroit Tigers.

Nadel will join Johnny Oates, Tom Vandergriff, Mark Holtz and Tom Grieve as members of the team’s Hall of Fame selected in a non-playing capacity. The players enshrined are Charlie Hough, Nolan Ryan, Jim Sundberg, Buddy Bell, Ferguson Jenkins, John Wetteland, Rusty Greer, Toby Harrah, Ruben Sierra and Kenny Rogers.

“Those are the real stars,” said Nadel, who calls games for ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM and has spent the vast majority of his tenure with the team doing radio broadcasts. “I don’t think of myself in that light, but I appreciate the fact that the Rangers have a genuine appreciation for what a broadcaster brings to the team.”

Kansas City’s Denny Matthews, who is in his 44th season calling Royals games, is the only active broadcaster with a longer tenure with an American League team. Nadel, who was a minor league hockey announcer before being hired by the Rangers, has been a finalist for the Ford C. Frick award given by the Baseball Hall of Fame the last two years.

“He truly is the voice of the Rangers,” Ryan said, adding how important it is for a team’s fan base to be able to build a relationship with the play-by-play man. “He truly has a passion for what he does. He does his homework, he’s very prepared and he is emotionally involved with what happens with the Texas Rangers on a day-to-day basis.”

The Rangers are giving Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz the night off Tuesday against the Royals.

Andrus, who is off to one of his best offensive starts with a .326 average, has reached base in 32 straight games. Cruz, the only Ranger to play every game in the field this season, homered for the second straight night Monday.

"We need them for the rest of the year, not just May," said manager Ron Washington, who kept Ian Kinsler and Mike Napoli out of the lineup for Monday's 3-1 loss to the Royals. "They need a day. I've got to get them a day. Today is theirs."

The lineups:

ROYALS

CF Jarrod Dyson
1B Eric Hosmer
DH Billy Butler
LF Alex Gordon
RF Jeff Francoeur
3B Mike Moustakas
C Brayan Pena
2B Chris Getz
SS Alcides Escobar

RHP Vin Mazzaro is pitching.

RANGERS

2B Ian Kinsler
3B Michael Young
LF Josh Hamilton
DH Adrian Beltre
RF David Murphy
C Mike Napoli
1B Mitch Moreland
SS Alberto Gonzalez
CF Craig Gentry

RHP Colby Lewis is pitching.

After one of the more remarkable weeks in major league history, Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton has joined Twitter.

Ok everyone- This IS my real account. Working on verification. Will tweet more once that's taken care of. @RangerBlake is working on it!

— Josh Hamilton (@thejoshhamilton) May 15, 2012

That post showed up at 12:19 p.m. CT Tuesday. Less than three hours later, Hamilton was up to more than 14,000 followers.

UPDATE: You can thank the impostors for Hamilton joining Twitter.

He was tired of hearing about accounts that claimed to be him, prompting him to create the account this week.

“I’m sick of having to take people off of Twitter who are acting like they’re me who are not me, you know?” Hamilton said in the clubhouse Tuesday afternoon. “It’s not right for the fans to think I’m out there saying stuff that’s from me and it’s not me. That’s the only reason.”

Hamilton, who said his wife, Katie, deleted her account “because it was a pain in the butt,” doesn’t plan to devote much time to Twitter. However, he said his account will be updated on a regular basis and he might occasionally reply to fans.

“I’ll probably put out statements and stuff like that,” Hamilton said. “I’ll probably let my agent handle most of it. I’ll update it, but I’m not going to be bothered with it.”

The Baseball Think Factory's Dan Szymborski got all computer-geeky about the likelihood of Josh Hamilton becoming the majors' first Triple Crown winner since 1967.

The ESPN Insider piece in a nutshell:

After all the numbers are crunched, Hamilton remains essentially a coin-flip to lead the league in each of the Triple Crown categories (see table), even when taken into account that he's played 130 games in a season only twice. Injury risk definitely hurts his odds at leading the league in the counting categories, but as long as he gets to 502 plate appearances (or at least close), there's the potential to actually help his batting average odds -- he's not really a .400 hitter, so the fewer PAs remaining, the less time there is to fall back to the rest of the league. In the 100,000 seasons played, Hamilton won the Triple Crown 16.1 percent of the time, terrific odds for such a difficult feat.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas No. 1 starter Colby Lewis will face Kansas City spot starter Vin Mazzaro on Tuesday, wrapping a quick two-game series. A look at the matchup:

Lewis (3-2, 3.69 ERA): Lewis has dropped his last two decisions after winning his first three this season. He’s coming off the strangest start in his career, when he set career highs in strikeouts (12) and home runs allowed (five) in a 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, becoming the first pitcher to give up five homers in a double-digit strikeout performance. Opponents are hitting an AL-low .077 (2-for-26) against him with runners in scoring position, with Lewis racking up 11 strikeouts in those situations. Lewis has a 1.45 ERA at home this season and is allowing the fewest walks per nine innings (1.2) of any AL starter.

Mazzaro (0-0, 0.00 ERA): Mazzaro has only pitched one inning in the big leagues this season. He was recalled from Triple-A Omaha last week and pitched a perfect eighth inning Friday night against the Chicago White Sox. He was 1-0 with a 4.37 ERA in Triple-A. The 25-year-old righty is 11-18 with a 5.11 ERA in 49 career big league appearances, including 39 starts. He is 0-1 with a 9.49 ERA in three outings against the Rangers.

Hitters: Current Royals are 7-for-25 with two doubles, four RBIs and three strikeouts against Lewis. No Kansas City player has more than five at-bats against him. Jason Bourgeois is 2-for-5 against Lewis. Eric Hosmer is 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Former Ranger Jeff Francoeur is 0-for-3. … Current Rangers are hitting .390 with three homers and seven RBIs in 41 at-bats off Mazzaro. David Murphy is 2-for-6 with two homers and three RBIs. Michael Young is 4-for-5 with a double. Mike Napoli is 3-for-8 with a homer and three RBIs. Elvis Andrus is 0-for-4.

Up next:
Wed. vs. Oak.: RHP Yu Darvish (5-1, 2.84) vs. LHP Tommy Milone (5-2, 3.92), 7:05 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1540/FSSW
Thur. vs. Oak.: LHP Matt Harrison (4-3, 5.23) vs. RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-3, 2.56), 1:05 p.m., ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM/1540/FSSW

ARLINGTON, Texas – Rangers Ballpark in Arlington will never be known as a pitcher’s paradise, but Yu Darvish has quickly grown to love the place.

Asked his thoughts on his new baseball home, Darvish discussed fans’ screams, not jet stream.

“When I think of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, I just think of the fans that make it happen,” Darvish said via a translator. “Just the number of fans and how much effort they put into cheering us on. Especially that last outing with that long rain delay, they all waited. They all waited and they stuck with it. Them cheering in a way is a motivating factor for me. It helps me to perform.”

The crowds have averaged 45,763 in Darvish’s three home starts. He’s 3-0 at home with a 3.72 ERA entering Wednesday’s start against the A’s.

Darvish’s home starts have each been memorable for different reasons.

He made his much hyped major league debut April 9 against the Mariners, and it looked like a disaster for Darvish after he gave up four runs in a wild first inning. But Darvish displayed some toughness by recovering and getting through 5 2/3 innings, getting the win due to the gift of great run support.

Darvish lived up to the hype in his next home start, dominating the Yankees. He pitched 8 1/3 shutout innings, allowing seven hits and striking out 10. His sickening stuff had the Yankees swinging and missing all game and shaking their heads afterward.

Darvish’s last home outing was another impressive display of grit. He returned after a one-hour, 56-minute rain delay and pitched into the sixth inning in the series opener against the AL West rival Angels. Darvish’s line wasn’t spectacular – three earned runs on three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings – but he sent another strong message that he’s a gamer.

Toughness ranks among the most important attributes for a Texas starter. Darvish, whose home park was a dome in Japan, will definitely need it once the summer heat hits.

It remains to be seen if the fans will keep filling the stands once the temperatures touch triple digits. Don’t doubt it with Darvish as a draw.