Just a short reflection on the most memorable moment of the past week in MLB.
‘(Un)Lucky Y(o)u’ by the Lightning Seeds
You’ve done it again
The night would soon belong to you
A no-hitter loomed
It seemed this time nothing could stop it coming true
But Yu, it didn’t happen
Ooh-ooh-eee-ooh
Ooh-ooh-eee-ooh-eee-ooh-eee-ooh
No-hitter blues now, unlucky Yu
Unlucky Yu
What more could you do
Except get one more out
Unlucky Yu
….
Coming within a single out of pitching a no-hitter is heartbreaking enough. Doing it twice seems a cruel twist of fate handed down by the baseball gods.
The Texas Rangers’ Yu Darvish could manage a wry smile at David Ortiz’s ground-ball eluding Elvis Andrus with two outs in the eighth inning (it was fitting that the Rangers were playing a defensive shift at the key moment – nothing defines the 2014 season so far quite like teams moving their infielders about).
It’s tempting to say that it’s inevitable Darvish will get a no-no at some point considering how close he’s come to it on several occasions. He has more than lived up to his ace-type billing since making the move from Japan and he has the ability to dominate teams whenever he’s on top of his game.
Yet perhaps luck will determine that he remains the nearly no-hitter man for the rest of his career.
Nothing is ever certain in baseball, which is exactly why we are so captivated by the sport.
