Yu Darvish: Texas Rangers SP Wins AL Worst of the Night Award for Second Time

Yu Darvish was supposed to be different. He was supposed to take Major League Baseball by storm. He was supposed to contend for the American League Cy Young award right out of the chute. He was supposed to succeed where Daisuke Matsuzaka failed. 

Most importantly, he was supposed to be the ace that the Texas Rangers paid for.

It looked for a time like Darvish was going to accomplish all of these things, but his first season in the major leagues has hit a rough patch in the last couple weeks. He finally hit rock bottom in Oakland on Thursday.

With the Rangers looking to salvage a split of their four-game series against the A's Darvish did not pitch well at all. He managed to last 5.1 innings, but he gave up six earned runs on six hits and six walks in the process, striking out only four. The Rangers went on to lose 7-1.

The biggest thorn in Darvish's side was Coco Crisp, who tripled and homered off the 25-year-old Japanese righty. That wouldn't have been a bad thing a couple years ago, but Crisp entered Thursday's contest hitting .158 with a .175 slugging percentage. Despite those horrid numbers, he made Darvish look like Ervin Santana.

Was Darvish actually that bad, or was this a case of him being undone by bad luck?

Alas, he was actually that bad. ESPN Stats & Info came through with some vital intel on Twitter:

"

Rough day for #Rangers Yu Darvish: posted his worst swing pct and miss pct, 2nd-lowest strike pct and 3rd-lowest K rate of the season.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 7, 2012"

ESPNW contributor Amanda Rykoff provided slightly more down-to-earth analysis:

"

A's have scored 6 runs off Yu Darvish. Nothing makes sense anymore.

— Amanda Rykoff (@amandarykoff) June 7, 2012"

It really didn't make sense. The A's rank at the bottom of baseball in runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. They're exactly the kind of team Darvish should be capable of dominating.

Instead, he walked away with a game score of 30, according to Baseball-Reference.com. That's the lowest game score he's posted in any of his starts so far this season.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Darvish's other two sub-40 game scores this season were compiled against the Seattle Mariners, who also rank towards the bottom of the league in batting average, OBP and slugging. For whatever reason, Darvish struggles against weak-hitting clubs.

The bright side? Hey, at least Darvish still has great stuff. He just needs to locate better, and location is something that will come in time if he continues to work hard. Though I have my doubts, it's still way too early to call Darvish a bust.

He's headed down that path, though. I've already had to give him one American League "Worst of the Night" award, and I'm going to him another for his stinker on Thursday in Oakland.

To my recollection, Darvish is just the second player to earn "Worst of the Night" honors twice this season. The other I know of is Adrian Gonzalez, who, coincidentally, got his start in the big leagues with the Rangers.

Perhaps there's some foul plot afoot in Texas.

If only Special Agents Mulder and Scully were still working...

If you ever want to nominate somebody for American League "Worst of the Night" honors, hit me up on Twitter.