Music: {allcanada} Blue Jays slowed by Darvish, fall to Rangers

Monday, April 30, 2012

{allcanada} Blue Jays slowed by Darvish, fall to Rangers

TORONTO -- The night began with curious grins and befuddled looks for the Toronto Blue Jays, and it had nothing to do with Yu Darvish.

No, it was Kyle Drabek taking the mound to Toby Keith's drinking anthem "Red Solo Cup" that seemed to catch his teammates by surprise, causing some to shake their heads in laughter, others to point to the sound system wondering what, exactly, was up with the country jam.

From that point on, however, the only thing leaving them puzzled was Darvish, the great free agent hope promised by rumour and industry speculation back in December but stripped away by the cold reality of Texas Rangers determination.

The Japanese sensation lived up to the billing for a second straight start with seven dominant and overpowering innings, allowing just four hits, one of them an Edwin Encarnacion home run, while walking two and striking out nine in a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 21,945.

The Blue Jays (12-11) never really threatened a big inning against Darvish (4-0) and the scorching Rangers (17-6), not getting their first hit until the fourth when Encarnacion homered for a fourth consecutive game while only managing to get multiple baserunners aboard twice.

Adam Lind reached on a walk and Encarnacion was hit on the upper left arm, almost the identical spot in which he was struck Sunday, to open the second, but Darvish buzzed through Eric Thames, who flew out weakly to left, and Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia, who both struck out meekly.

It was more of the same in the seventh, when Encarnacion singled -- the ninth straight plate appearance in which he reached base -- and moved to second on Brett Lawrie's one-out walk, but Rasmus again struck out and Arencibia popped to second to end it.

The big night from Darvish meant six strong innings of two-run ball from Drabek (2-2) went to waste.

The sophomore right-hander flashed his own ability to overpower his opponents, striking out nine, but the Blue Jays couldn't overcome the RBI doubles he surrendered to Nelson Cruz in the second and Elvis Andrus in the third.

The Rangers put things further out of reach in the seventh, when Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry went back-to-back to open the frame against rookie Evan Crawford, pretty much sealing the deal.

Mike Adams pitched a scoreless eighth and Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his sixth save.

Whether or not the Blue Jays actually submitted a bid on Darvish's negotiating rights -- a trustworthy source told sportsnet.ca back in December they did -- their actions at the time remain shrouded in mystery.

The Rangers, meanwhile, clearly went all in, exceeding the record US$51 million post the Boston Red Sox paid for Daisuke Matsuzaka with a bid of US$51.7 million, and then signed Darvish to a US$56-million, six-year deal.

In deciding what to bid, Rangers GM Jon Daniels said the team moved a bit past what they felt comfortable with, but decided if they were going to get beat, they'd get beat with their best.

"When it comes to the post, there was a psychological draw to where that the Dice K bid came in, so in the end we beat by a little bit," said Daniels. "In our conversation, in free agency, or a trade you can try to outbid second place by a little bit. Obviously the agent or another team would love you to double the offer they have, but it usually comes out relatively close. You'll be 10 or 15 per cent more than second place.

"In posting it's a truly blind process, so you have to have that conversation. Here are the teams we know have scouted him, here is who we think is interested. We have no idea who is going to bid what, but knowing that at the end of the day you have to be thrilled to win by a dollar but be OK if you beat it by a lot more than that."

No one knows how much they beat the second-place bid buy at this point. But through Darvish's first five starts, there's reason to think regardless of what it was, that they may not have overpaid.