Just a day after Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish announced he’d be on the mound Saturday, the team has decided to push his start back. However, it’s only being pushed back one day as Darvish will start on Sunday, this according to the Fort-Star Worth Telegram.
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Darvish has been dealing with neck problems in recent weeks and was forced to have his turn in the rotation skipped. It’s a problem that has seemingly plagued a handful of Rangers in recent days as outfielder Leonys Martin had to miss a handful of games in recent days with his own neck injury. He claimed it was from sleeping incorrectly on a hotel bed, however.
As for Darvish, a recent MRI showed no injury so it’s simply a matter of pain tolerance at this point. Clearly he was feeling well enough to take the field but the Rangers, maybe wanting to play it safe, decided to give him an additional day of rest.
“He’s on schedule for Sunday,” manager Ron Washington said. “There’s one thing about Yu Darvish: If he’s not 100 percent, he’ll let us know.”
A stiff neck doesn’t sound overly painful, especially in regards to some more common injuries we see players suffer. However Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, who was scratched twice during his career with the same injury says it’s nothing to play around with.
“You just can’t throw,” he said.
Calling Darvish ‘an animal’, he doesn’t believe the Rangers ace will show any signs of issue when he starts against the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.