Darvish Gives Whole New Meaning to Tipping Pitches

Yu Darvish was on his game and off his balance Wednesday against his former team in the aptly named Surprise Stadium. He not only brought the funk like your grandpa’s feet, striking out seven Rangers while walking none, he also displayed the questionable equlibrium of an elderly man in need of a walker.

Seriously, he almost fell over just before notching his sixth K of the game. Facing Drew Robinson with one out in the bottom of the 5th inning, Darvish rocked and went into the little hitch he’s adopted to throw off opposing hitters, faltering as his knee reached its apex. Breaking his hands early — and in a more exaggerated motion — to regain his composure, Darvish somehow recovered and exploded to the plate with a perfect fastball.

Hmmm, I don’t think that’s what people were talking about when they said Darvish was tipping pitches during the World Series. The results were slightly better this time around as well.

“I got off balance,” Darvish told reporters after the game. “I thought of not pitching, and went with it and ended up getting a strikeout. I think it was the best pitch today.”

It may well have been, which is really saying something when you’re slingin’ it like Darvish was in this one. For context, here is a full montage of all seven K’s, most of which involved some degree of deception:

I haven’t seen that kind of shimmy shimmy ya since Ol’ Dirty Bastard returned to the 36 Chambers, and I’m not even convinced that Russell Jones did it better. If Darvish can continue to manipulate his timing with that Cueto-esque hitch while employing his broad pitch mix to go with it, he could reach depths of badassery not even Jacques Cousteau would dare explore.