Give Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish credit for not playing the game.
No, not the game between the lines every fifth day.
But rather the excuses game. Or, if you prefer, the everything-is-just-fine-and-dandy game.
Darvish, making his team-high 16th start of the season, earned his 10th consecutive no-decision Friday in a 5-4 defeat against the Mets at Wrigley Field.
Ten straight “NDs” simply has to be the strangest, most kissing-your-sister-est stat in all of baseball this season. It is so unusual, it had never been done before in Cubs history. The last big-league pitcher to slog through 10 straight starts without a single decision? The Phillies’ Randy Lerch in 1977.
But the experience hasn’t merely been “weird” for Darvish, though that’s one of the words he used to describe it. It also has been “frustrating.” Darvish has worked hard to avoid letting negative thoughts creep into his head in 2019, but the task is getting more difficult.
“Good stuff,” manager Joe Maddon said of what his $126 million man brought to the mound against the Mets. “I mean, again, good stuf.”
Again? Well, yeah, if you listen to Maddon. No one has bent over backward more than he has to praise Darvish throughout the last several games of this stretch. It’s true, Darvish’s performances have been getting more and more solid. But the bottom line is delivering — even Darvish understands that.
“I just want to pitch good,” he said.
There was every reason for the Cubs (41-34) to win this game and help Darvish break his streak.
For one thing, they entered Friday with 15 victories in their last 17 games against the Mets (36-40) at Wrigley Field. There isn’t another team in the National League they’ve knocked around so routinely at home.
Also, the Cubs handed Darvish multiple leads, at 2-1 and 3-2. Alas, Darvish responded each time with what seems to be his specialty — instantly blowing any and every advantage. He took that 2-1 lead into the third, but promptly surrendered a two-run homer to Jeff McNeil. He took a 4-3 lead into the sixth, but gave up a two-out solo shot to Michael Conforto.
“I know I give up a lot of runs after they score,” Darvish said. “I really focused to Conforto, but he just hit it.”
Darvish finished the inning, and his day — empty again — was through. The Mets scored the winning run in the seventh on a two-out single by McNeil off Mike Montgomery.
We should note that Darvish did a good bit of handing those two Cubs leads to himself. His two-out liner to right field scored David Bote with the team’s second run. He later singled up the middle and came home on a two-run shot by Addison Russell.
It was Darvish first career multi-hit game, after which he was asked if he “takes pride” in his hitting.
“I don’t care about my hitting,” he said. “I don’t want to be a good hitter. I want to be a good pitcher.”
Give Darvish credit for seeing things as they are and telling it like it is. Unfortunately, that’s all you can give him credit for. Even a good, old-fashioned “L” might be refreshing at this point.
