On Sunday, April 7, two American League heavyweights will collide when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim visit the Texas Rangers at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN. Baseball Tonight previews the game at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Several ESPN MLB commentators offered insights on storylines heading into Sunday’s game, including Yu Darvish’s follow up to his near-perfect outing, slugger Josh Hamilton’s return to Texas and Mike Trout’s sophomore season.
On Yu Darvish
Barry Larkin: As a hitter, your approach doesn’t really change. Darvish has a couple of feature pitches. You try to hit the fastball early in the count. You look at his tendencies and look at what made him successful last time. Pitchers are creatures of habit so whatever he did last time, he’s probably going to try to do again.
Aaron Boone: Despite Darvish’s performance coming against the Astros, I think it’s simply a preview of what is going to be a monster season. He’s a guy who could be on the short list for Cy Young by season’s end.
Mark Mulder: I think he’s extremely talented. He started to get so much better as the season went on last year. Lots of times, you see Asian pitchers come over and not use the fastball enough. He has such a good one and later in the season last year he started using it more. It made him that much more effective. I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw him a couple times this year go into the middle and late innings with performances like the almost-perfect game. As good as that Angels lineup is – he’s going to have a tough task. You start with Trout at the top, Albert [Pujols], Hamilton and Trumbo – that lineup never quits coming at you. If he executes his pitches, he can dominate anyone. That’s how good his stuff is. It just all comes down to executing and he’s getting better at that as he goes along.
Manny Acta: I think he has picked up right where he left off last season. Hands down, he’s the number one guy in that rotation. He doesn’t need to do anything differently – just continue to keep it low and away. He has a very good slider. Regardless of who he faces, it’s really tough stuff to hit.
Karl Ravech: Yu Darvish is 5-1 in his last eight starts dating back to last year. The game against the Angels on Sunday night will be a great test to see if Yu belongs in the discussion with Verlander, Felix, and Jered Weaver.
Jim Bowden: Darvish will find in his next start that hitters will not be swinging at as many balls out of the strike zone as the Astros did. Darvish had all seven pitches working against the Astros with a nasty fastball, curveball, slider, cutter, change and splitter – but the Astros hitters also helped him by continuously swinging at balls out of the zone. Granted, many of his breaking balls were late breaking and fell out of the zone just before the balls got to the plate. However, every hitter will be studying the video of his almost-perfect game and will approach him differently than the Astros did. The 110 pitches should not be an issue.
On Josh Hamilton’s Texas return
Rick Sutcliffe: When it didn’t seem like a deal would happen, I think he became frustrated with the Rangers and then they became frustrated with what they saw from him. Nolan Ryan was vocal about Josh not taking pitches. We know in the Wild Card game against Baltimore, even though he was 0-4, he only saw eight pitches in the game. But I think the final straw came in game 162. We all remember that Josh dropped a fly ball in center field. When he came in, Ron Washington went up to him and asked him what happened. They went at it pretty good. I think the relationship they had, I don’t know if it ever could have been repaired. Regardless of what happened in the Wild Card game, I think that after what happened in the dugout in Oakland, I knew that one of them wasn’t coming back and I kind of figured it was Josh. There are people who will remember the good times and there will be others who remember the bad. Unfortunately in sports, as we all know, most of the time the people who remember the bad are usually the loudest. It might be an overwhelming boo but I think the majority, whether they applaud or not, appreciate what he did there.
Tim Kurkjian: Josh Hamilton’s return to Arlington will be fascinating. He was booed, not loudly, in his final appearance for the Rangers last October. He likely will get booed again when he returns as an Angel. But let’s not forget that Hamilton won an MVP for the Rangers, finished in the top five in another year and helped the Rangers get to the World Series two years in a row. And let’s not forget that the Angels offered Hamilton a lot more money than the Rangers. They say everything is bigger in Texas. It will be a big weekend in Texas with Hamilton’s return.
Alex Cora: It’s going to be special. I think the good thing for him is that he’s going to get it over with early in the season. He doesn’t have to wait. At least he’s going to be able turn the page right away. Personally, I think it will be good for him to get back there and see the ushers and the people that work behind the scenes – the special people that you see day in and day out when you are at home. It should be a special weekend for him.
Chris Singleton: Josh Hamilton will deal with a myriad of emotions when he returns to Arlington. It is the place where he became ‘Josh Hamilton’ the superstar baseball player but more importantly ‘Josh Hamilton’ the man. His success off the field in staying free of drug addiction afforded him the opportunity to let his talent be displayed on the field for many to adore. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see tears flowing from Josh Hamilton’s eyes at some point. Like him or not, this man has beaten great odds. As for the reception from the fans, I expect many more cheers than boos. He was a vital part in giving the Rangers fans the thrill of experiencing two World Series appearances.
Bowden: I hope the Rangers fans will remember that he was an integral force in helping them get to two World Series over the last three years, something that had never been done in Rangers history. Three times in his five years in Texas he hit at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs including 43 homers and 128 RBIs last year. Many times over the last five years he helped carry the Rangers for two to three weeks at a time. Hamilton wanted to return to the Rangers, but the Rangers never made an aggressive attempt to sign him which is the real reason he ended up with the Angels. For fans, often times they hold against the player for leaving their team to go to their archrivals. I only understand that if their own club made a similar offer to the player and that wasn’t the case here. Many Rangers fans will remember Hamilton’s dropped fly ball in September, quitting caffeine in the middle of the season, or the drink he had prior to Spring Training. However, in the end, the Rangers and their fans helped Hamilton fight his lifelong addiction to alcohol and drugs and Hamilton helped the Rangers get to two World Series. The relationship worked for both. I hope the fans remember that when he returns this weekend. However, unfortunately, I feel the Rangers fans will probably permeate the stadium with more boos than cheers and that’s disappointing for a player that calls Texas his home and would have stayed home had the Rangers wanted to keep him.
On Mike Trout
Larkin: You have to just go out and play. You can’t worry about what people are doing against you. Even though he had the fantastic year he’s still trying to establish himself. You can’t really worry about adjustments based on what you think people will do against you. He just needs to continue establishing himself as a Major Leaguer and take the same approach.
Nomar Garciaparra: I think he’s going to have a huge impact this season. He solidified himself last year as a player to watch. We talked about him as potential MVP. There was a huge discussion around him and he recognized that. Looking at the way he came in this season, I think he took it to heart. He stayed in shape and made sure that nothing diminished from last year. He just has to go out there and play his game especially now that he’s surrounded by superstars on that team and it’s not all on his shoulders.
Acta: I was amazed watching him last year. To me, that’s how Mickey Mantle must have felt as far as being the fastest and the strongest player on the field. I am confident he will have another terrific season. He already had a very good spring.
Boone: I’m looking forward to watching Trout and Bryce Harper this season as they establish themselves as two great young players that don’t come along real often.
