Cubs' Darvish, Hamels set to face former team at familiar ballpark
ARLINGTON, Texas - It will be a case of familiar faces in a familiar place this weekend for the Chicago Cubs.
Pitchers Yu Darvis and Cole Hamels will face their former team, the Texas Rangers, when the series resumes after Friday's scheduled off-day.
Right-hander Darvish starts Saturday night as he hopes to begin a comeback from last year's injury-marred season.
Lefty Hamels is looking forward to facing any former big-league team for the first time when he starts Sunday afternoon's series finale. Hamels did face the Rangers once with his original team, the Phillies, who traded him to Texas in 2015, right after he no-hit the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Keeping the ball out of the air at hitter-friendly Globe Life Park will be important. For his career, Darvish is 31-19 at Globe Life with a 3.60 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP and 11 strikeouts per 9 innings.
Hamels is 18-11 at the Rangers' park with a 4.69 ERA, a 1.34 WHIP and 8.6 strikeouts per 9.
"These guys have been around the block," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "Pitching in this ballpark matters. The ball flies here pretty well. These guys know about all that. You have to make your pitches. You do have to pitch inside. You have to be assertive and not get into bad counts.
"I managed in Midland (Texas) for two years, and that was even worse than this. Nevertheless, Texas baseball tends to have a different twist to it. Having pitched here before, I think should help them a bit."
This is the last year of Globe Life Park. The Rangers will move into their new $1.1 billion retractable-dome stadium next season after 26 years in the open air.
"It's going to mean a lot," Darvish said. "This stadium has a lot of history. I'm so happy to be here."
Darvish pitched in only 8 games last year after signing a six-year, $126 million free-agent deal with the Cubs. Right-triceps tendinitis bothered him most of the season, he underwent an elbow cleanup in September. He dealt with a finger blister for a brief time in spring training but said Thursday he will not be limited to a pitch count Saturday.
"I know what he's going to bring as long as he stays well," Maddon said. "I just want to see health. The big thing is to be healthy and yes, the command of his stuff really matters, also. He's such a strong man. You easily get 6-7 innings when he's on a good roll. Health, strike throwing, lower pitch counts, deeper into the games, we get that out of him with these other guys, which he's highly capable of, that could be a huge difference maker compared to last year."
Hamels has made Texas home for his family, so facing the Rangers is something special for him.
"There's some tremendously talented guys over there," he said. "You have to pick and choose because it's almost like they know what I know that they know what's coming. It's going to be a game, but it would be really fun. It's a tremendous place to play."