Week 19: Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish has been very impressive in his last two starts with a combined ERA of 1.32 and WHIP of just 0.80. He only gave up one walk in 13.2 innings. Not surprisingly, both outings were scored as quality starts and he was awarded the win in August 12th game against the Detroit Tigers. Yes, the better of those two games--in which he pitched seven shut-out innings with no walks against the Houston Astros on August 7th--was technically in Week 18 and should have put him in consideration for my MLBoyfriend last time, but this is my blog and I can make or break the rules as I choose. So, congratulations to Yu Darvish, my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Darvish has always been a strike-out pitcher. This amazing GIF of five of his pitches against Albert Pujols (no slouch of a hitter) superimposed over each other shows his control and consistency.

However, that is from 2013, and Tommy John surgery took Darvish out of the game all last season. He has come back this season as good or maybe even better than before.

Yu Darvish had an advantage in the competition  for my MLBoyfriend beyond his pitching. As someone who went through puberty during the Jim Palmer as Jockey model years, I have a soft spot for baseball players who moonlight as underwear models. So this (admittedly very old) picture I found of Darvish sealed the deal for him.

This glamour shot didn't hurt either.

So, here's to Yu*, my new MLBoyfriend!

*I hope you all are thankful that I only made one "Yu/you" pun, and I waited until the very end to do it.