Okay, so maybe a few people overreacted when the Texas Rangers dropped the first game of the season against the Houston Astros, who are projected by many to finish in the cellar of the AL West this year. It appears that a few people may have under-reacted when asked if Yu Darvish was a legitimate Cy Young candidate.

Tonight Darvish put the world on notice when he struck out 14 batters in 8 and 2/3 innings on his way to the best pitching performance in his early career.

The night started slowly for Darvish while he struggled to establish his fastball, but the movement on his other pitches had more than enough to hold off the Houston bats until he had his full arsenal working. And boy, was it working. Darvish started the 5th inning with no hits allowed and 9 strikeouts before having a few scares. Chris Carter led off the inning with a long drive to left center field that appeared to have a chance to leave the ballpark, but the ball died just short and David Murphy was able to get under it for the first out. Next up for the Astros was Rick Ankiel, who garnered a few gasps from the fans when he almost snuck a liner over Mitch Moreland’s glove at first, but Moreland was able to time it just right to make the catch and get the second out. After that, Darvish was able to strike out game 1 hero Justin Maxwell, and the threat was over. Yu was still perfect.

The Rangers got the only run they needed from a well placed bases loaded single between third base and shortstop off the bat of former Astros veteran Lance Berkman to take a 1-0 lead. Ian Kinsler added an absolute bomb for a two run homerun in the top of the 7th inning to give his pitcher some breathing room.

That was all he would need.

In the 7th, Darvish started out by getting Jose Altuve to pop out to Ian Kinsler in shallow right field on the very first pitch he saw. Next was Brett Wallace, who Darvish was able to strike out on a nasty pitch in the dirt for his 12th strikeout of the game. After that, Carlos Pena hit a very weak ground ball to Moreland at first. Pena’s bat was in pieces, and everyone in the park could tell that Darvish’s stuff was actually getting better as the game moved into the final two innings.

In the top of the 8th, David Murphy was able to work a walk against Houston left handed reliever Wesley Wright. Nelson Cruz followed with a hard hit double to the left field gap that Murphy was able to score on. Pierzynski then moved Cruz over to 3rd base on a ground out to first, which allowed Cruz to score when Mitch Moreland hit a hard fly ball to the warning track in left. After a pitching change, Craig Gentry was struck out swinging by right hander Josh Fields to end the inning with the score 5-0.

Darvish started the  bottom of the 8th inning with his pitch count at 93, and he had to face Carter, Ankiel and Maxwell; the same three batters he faced in the 5th inning. He struck out Carter on a full count pitch to bring up Ankiel. He made quick work of Ankiel for his 14th strikeout. Maxwell grounded out on the first pitch he saw, and everyone in Texas could feel the electricity building.

The question that was weighing on everyone was this: Would manager Ron Washington let him go back out for the 9th inning?

Darvish finished the 8th inning with 107 pitches, which in the first start of the year is really pushing the limit. Washington and pitching coach Mike Maddux talked to Darvish as soon as he came off the field, but everyone had to wait for the Rangers to finish batting to see what the final decision was.

Ian Kinsler led off the 9th inning against right hander Jose Veras with a walk. Elvis Andrus followed with an RBI triple to score Kinsler. Lance Berkman then singled softly to center to score Andrus and make the score 7-0. After that, Veras settled down and struck out Adrian Beltre, David Murphy and Nelson Cruz to end the Rangers half of the inning.

…..And Darvish walked up the steps and out of the dugout. Perhaps towards history.

The small crowd of just a little over 20,000, full of Rangers fans,  erupted when he left the dugout. Jason Castro led off and grounded to Andrus at shortstop for the first out. The crowd drew louder. Next was Carlos Corporan, who immediately grounded out to Kinsler. Darvish was on the verge of history. The last batter for Darvish was Marwin Gonzalez, the ninth place hitter in the Astros lineup.

And Marwin put a dagger in the heart of history.

A solid ground ball directly back up the middle and into center field drew the bid for a perfect game to a close. Darvish grinned widely knowing what had just been lost, and knowing that his manager was on his way to pull him from the ballgame. Left hander Michael Kirkman came on and finished the game off, giving up another hit before doing so. It was a 2 hit shutout by Darvish and Kirkman, but as catcher A.J. Pierzynski said after the game, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in a shutout in my life”.

Even still, the Texas Rangers said “Hello Win Column” for the first time in 2013 in style, and everyone watched as Yu Darvish put the whole league on notice.