If you go into your way-back machine, you’ll recall that a couple years ago there was a dustup on Twitter between then-Cubs starter Yu Darvish, and then-still-really-good Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich. A little background is necessary.
At the time, there was increasing chatter about teams other than the Astros that may have been using systems to steal signs at home. Darvish mentioned in an article that he’d had a game where he was stepping off the mound a lot because the batters kept looking out to left center field, instead of at him. Naturally, I wondered if I could find the game he was talking about, and a process-of-elimination led me to one of his starts at Miller Park against the Brewers, where the bullpen is in left center. Sure enough, I thought I found it, so I tweeted it out:
Here's the video – it happens very quickly, and just before Yu steps off. Yelich is locked on Darvish, eyes flick toward left center, then back to Darvish. Yu steps off. pic.twitter.com/hqOSvGMGEh
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) November 15, 2019
Darvish, who is quite active and fun on Twitter, saw the video, and discussed:
But that's not mean Brewers stealing signs.
— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) November 15, 2019
So, then, it was pretty clear that Darvish *was* talking about that start against the Brewers, but he *was not* accusing them of cheating. He was just saying it was weird. Because it was.
Upon seeing Darvish’s tweets, Yelich infamously sent his own tweet: “Be better than this. Nobody needs help facing you.”
Not cool, man. Especially given the heater Darvish was on, which carried on into 2020, where Darvish should’ve won the Cy Young. He’s a stud. Yelich should know it.
Well, now he does. And he had some fun on Twitter sending the message today since there was a video of a nasty Yu Darvish pitch making the rounds. It gives me considerable pain to admit … this is a great tweet:
As a man of integrity I may need to acknowledge the mounting evidence that we may in fact need help facing you… https://t.co/XR5cofQxpr
— Christian Yelich (@ChristianYelich) January 29, 2022
Dang it. That’s good. That’s really good. Acknowledging the earlier biff while being funny in the process? That’s just good work right there. Credit to Yelich. I’ll still root for Darvish to dominate him, of course, even though Darvish is no longer on the Cubs. But I do have to respect the engagement game.