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Dodgers’ Yu Darvish Was Tipping Pitches In Game 7 Of World Series

Yu Darvish was acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline specifically for the postseason. They did not need him to win the division. Instead, all they needed from him was some wins in October to take them to the promise land. Unfortunately, they did not get that.

Darvish was impressive in his starts against the Diamondbacks and the Cubs. He went five innings against Arizona and 6.1 innings against Chicago, giving up just one run in each start. He looked good and it seemed like the front office’s decision to go get him was going to pay off. Then, the World Series happened.

In Game 2 of the World Series, Yu Darvish went just 1.2 innings and gave up four runs on six hits. It was absolutley heartbreaking to watch, and the Dodgers would end up losing that game 5-3. After the game he said there was concern with his slider, but that probably wasn’t it.

Game 7 of the World Series was heartbreaking to watch. Yu Darvish gave up five runs off of three hits in just 1.2 innings. Right off the bat, it seemed like Astros hitters were on him. Was it something wrong with the slider again? No, Darvish was tipping his pitches.

Eduardo Perez was on Mike and Mike and broke down exactly what went wrong for Darvish. He notes Brian McCann’s and Yuli Gurriel’s long at-bats, and how they were able to grind away at pitches. Here is the main problem that happened on Wednesday:

All of a sudden I realize, his right hand, every time he’s going to throw the fastball, puts it in and it never moves because he already has the grip. But every time he’s going to throw the slider, and you see a little bit of movement. That’s all you need.

You can check out the full interview and the rest of Eduardo Perez’s analysis below!

It’s a shame that the Dodgers’ coaching staff was not able to catch this, especially since he has a history of this. Yu Darvish was pausing before his fastball back in July when he pitched against the Marlins. In that start, Darvish gave up 10 runs on nine hits.

Want to be even more frustrated? Watch the post-game interview with Carlos Beltran below.

What do you think about all of this? Let us know in the comments below!

Top Social Reactions To Dodgers Losing Game 7 Of The World Series

Alex Perez

Whittier College Alumnus. Editor In Chief of Dodgers Nation. Lifelong Dodgers fan.

52 Comments

  1. I know we are all upset about the loss. But blaming Yu for this loss is ridiculous. Everything was off for Game 7. Quit blaming one man for an entire teams lack of follow through. I am a LIFE LONG Dodger fan and will be one until I am no longer on this earth. We messed up. It stinks but WE did. We will be back next year. And I hope, that the Dodgers organization will bring him back because he IS an asset.

    1. Roberts should not have sent him back out.. The offense laid down.. The only RBI we had was from a guy who hardly played this year..

    2. Sorry, Amanda, but if Yu hadn’t been tipping his pitches, the Dodgers would be World Series champs right now. Yeah, our offense was pretty anemic in Game 7, but if Yu could have just given us three good innings where he didn’t give up any runs, that’s it, we would have won. The rest of our pitchers were totally on their games. Not to mention that horrible start in Game 3 as well! All of our players COULD have done better, but nobody on our roster cost us as much as Darvish did by tipping his pitches. It sucks and we all have to move on, but I hope the Dodgers are moving on without Darvish.

      1. Yeah, and “ if “ I had four wheels, I’d be a wagon. “If” LA had won, they’d be champions. “If” Houston would have forfeited, LA would be champions. I don’t think Nostradamus’ legacy is in jeapordy with the insightful “If” scenarios.

    3. If they learn how to bunt there wouldn’t be a game 7 but I guess they don’t want to play small ball

    4. Actually…… way more than just” upset..”…… it is the first thing I think about now when I wake up and the last thing too at night……. I agree that Yu Darvish is definitely an asset for the other team completely. Watch Carlos and his reaction……. but since this was supposed to be about the DODGERS winning the World Series and not about helping another team to get their win and trophy and detour our championship run, then absolutely no way this is our asset. The Dodgers won plenty of games before he became a Dodger and if you count the wins and losses, more losses than wins. Did we win any game that Darvish pitched in the World Series? Wasn’t that why Darvish was brought to the DOdgers in the first place? Once Darvish was gone…….. let me ask you … DId the Astros ever score again? You know the answer and every single Dodger fan no matter where we live on this planet knows the answer. Even Houston knows the answer to this as well too. Assets are benefits to the holder of them and not the other way around. It is a disservice to all of the teammates. You can say you want to be on the team but hurting them rather than helping them does not make you a teammate but rather puts the entire DODGERS team at a disadvantage. Beyond just being sad now……… it is wrong to all of the guys that we love…… to our team and our city and all the hard work that they gave to this year. Assets don’t hinder………….. they help you and not someone else. We should all understand that for any team. That now just makes this 2017 World Series all the more harder and painful and upsetting to deal with now ………. hit batters 4 times and tipping signs in a game 7…… just stop to think about this……….

      1. How about tipping your hat to the wall naming club. Grace in defeat. Whining about how you “would’ve won, if only” is just painfully obvious jealousy. Houston beat LA. Period. Houston is the world champions, not because A pitcher lost. Houston are the champions because two teams took the field and Houston won 4 out of 7. There’s 8 other players in that field. One man didn’t lose 4 games. Educate yourself about the sport you follow and respect its integrity. Sour grapes is oh so unappealing.

    5. Darvish even in his best starts was scary. He was poor at best. He lost 2 games for the Dodgers in the world series. You can’t discount that. He is done with L.A. he won’t be back. What a mistake he was.

      1. I agree Darvish is trash!! Killed the hearts of so many true blue fans. He chockes when you really need him .. No clutch!

      2. That’s the difference between the Astros and the Dodgers. Lunhow passed on Yu after he researched him. The Dodgers like the Yankees and every other high payroll team think they can buy championships. Shell out the bucks and roll the ball out philosophies do not work. Way to go Astros!!!! Good try Dodgers. See you next year when we repeat.

    6. and As an Astros Die Hard Fan , I hop he starts games 1-4 of the world series against my Astros

    7. The way you use “WE” makes it seem like your a member of the Dodger
      Organization. What position do you play?

    8. I agree 100% Amanda. Darvish screwed up to be sure but where was our hitting? One run! That had nothing to do with Darvish pitching. We were off, that’s all there is to it.

    9. HE WAS TIPPING OFF HIS PITCHES, NO WONDER THE RAT BASTARD WAS GETTING WACKED! DUMB SHIT DID NOT HAVE A POKER FACE. DAM YOU DARVISH, DAM YOU TO HELL!!!!

    10. Are you simple?? No other pitchef gave up a run.. If Darvish never pitched you could also erase those 5 runs. 1-0 Dodgers win but the coach fd up.oh well I guess we got next year.

    11. I can’t believe Rick Honeycutt didn’t notice this??
      I’m glad he is ? done..

      Astros won by cheating

      1. How amazing. So proud to illustrate ones ignorance. Houston cheated, huh? Got news for ya sport. Figuring out what a pitcher is going to throw is an asset and a winning skill. It’s been going on for years. Truly, you are clueless. Nobody cheated, LA lost. I didn’t catch the news report where MLB overturned the championship after several Astros players noted Yu was tipping pitches. I guess a cornerback in the NFL that reads the quarterback and intercepts the ball before it reaches its target is cheating? Have you truly no clue about how the game works? I suppose the fans of MLB could say LA cheated by shelling out more money than most teams can afford? That makes LA paper contenders (just like the Yankees). But, you keep finding someone to blame for failure, it’s the trademark of poor sportsmanship and a losers mindset.

    12. I said that on facebook before he pitched in the series , I could see on the T.V. sitting a home watching the game, you got to watch everything not just the pitches.i have only been listening and watching Baseball for 80 yrs.

    13. I also am a long time Dodger fan. But game 7 of the World Series was a total disaster. Here’s a team (Dodgers) batting 275 during the regular season but then comes the the world series then the whole team out of a sudden drops 270 and all players are afraid of the Astros. Knowing they could of take care of the opposing team along time ago. I think this game was “given” to the Houston. That’s why I’m upset.

    14. Tipping pitches is a big one! But the tipping should of been noticed by the oppents coaching staff . Another TEAM LOSS!

    15. Now THAT is a fan.

      Lifelong Cubs fan here. But dodgers have nothing to be ashamed of. Great season, young team, great farm system, incredible front office.

      The positives far outweigh the negatives.

      Great outlook Amanda.

    16. Actually, it’s pretty surprising that they got to a game 7 ……when 3 of the top 5 in the order were unable to hit over .160. Bats got quiet at the wrong time….

    1. We’ve been waiting since 88! We would have likely won had it not been for 5 runs where there was no chance of returning by of bad pitching. It’s not the pitcher’s fault though, I think it’s the management. If you were manager in game 7 and the other team scored one, then another off your pitcher, most likely you’d be like “woah, woah, hold on now, let’s rethink this.” But not our manager, nope, he let it go to 5. Every time we’d put on the heat throughout the series, I’d see the Astros manager getting his butt out there and coaching his pitcher with other team members or switching pitchers to try and break the bad momentum. With the players that we had, there was absolutely no reason why we should have lost game 7. It’s not to say that the Astros didn’t deserve it, they did…I’m saying we just made some really dumb mistakes and didn’t allocate all of the players optimally. When playing against a team just as good as you are, they’re going to catch that and use it to their advantage. Hopefully the dodgers do make it to the World Series next year, but if they couldn’t win this time against a team that had never won the World Series before, I don’t see it being any easier next year if they make it.

  2. We lost because of Darvish and Roberts. Roberts wants to give a pitcher a chance, he did it with Baez, let them learn in practice, not in crucial games. Kershaw should have been the starter, LAD would have won the WS. Pack Darvish’s bags asap.

  3. Yeah darvish isn’t to blame,(eye roll). That’s why all The runs that game were given u by him.

  4. Yes he did lose the world series for us. We would have done just as good without him as we would have done with him. Ryu, could have been the other pitcher. We had options. I think he might have been bought? Roberts also shares the blame for pulling Hill way too early. His analytics are skewed and he doesn’t know how to evaluate fatigue in the equation.

  5. Yu Darvish should never have pitched game 7. I thought all along Alex Wood should have started.

  6. Pretty sure the whole thing was rigged for Astros because of the hurricane. So the Astros were able to see Darvish tipping pitches but the Dodgers weren’t? Our catcher had a front row seat and it didn’t stop, Rich Hill was taken out after giving up a run but Darvish was allowed to go on, with Kershaw and Wood available he shouldn’t have even started the game. All the times we were able to tie the game in late innings but never able to get the lead, Kenley blowing back to back saves, Bellinger’s error in the first inning, Darvish being allowed to tip pitches, MLB’s twitter and Instagram accounts excessive Astros posts, Sports Illustrated calling the World Series three years ago (and on the cover to boot!, how many other issues do they have that call World Series champions years in advance?), the fact that Astros World Series champions shirts were available for purchase from MLB after game 4 but dodgers shirts weren’t, everyone hating on Donald trump saying he’s racist but embracing yulieski gurriel like nothing happened (it’s ok, he tipped his hat to Yu and the Astros bat boy wrote a letter of apology for him), it’s just like the Cubs last year, they actually had me going for a minute after they won game 6 thinking it was possible and not rigged, inning 1 of game 7 brought me down to earth, I wonder if LA has a big earthquake or something if MLB will give them a WS win… we’ll just have to wait and see.

    1. LOL. Conspiracy theorist are the funniest clowns on the planet. EntertAin is some more with your yarns. Sing for us, and we shall bid you offerings of treats.

  7. Hes history. Was aquired for October baseball he stuck up the place. No room for that! Bye Felicia! #unemployed

  8. I don’t know if it was just him tipping his pitches. In the instant replay it seemed very obvious that his pitchers were all high and his breaking balls were hanging over the plate.

  9. I’m sorry here too dodgers fan for life but the game has become a business now explain to me how the astro home runs were tape measure n the dodgers barely made it out Sammy. S to me the whole series seems script even the cubs last year serious I’m a Laker fan too the shortend nba finals spur n Lakers nfl all has changed I don’t watch basketball not to mention nfl now mlb not even on free tickets what a shame

  10. 1st it was game 3 & game 7 not 2 & as much as This scan possibly be the truth that he was tipping pitches the 7 Dodgers had plenty of opportunity & could of came back PLENTY of times I was at the game and saw no effort, nothing, no energy no hunger nothing…they handed the game To Astros, looked like the got paid to let #houstonstrong win

  11. He give them 2 games , we lost the series because of him. Easy as that start a game 7 with a 5 zip rock on you is heavy on any team and this idiot pitcher is to blame

  12. Look I know it is a team effort but starting Yu darvish over wood. Was the first mistake. But you have to look at it like this how many runs did Houston score after Yu was taken out 0!!!! Yu hasn’t been very effective since coming to the Dodgers. The key words in that statement is “since coming”. Yu was a late aqusition. Wood was there since day one how do you replace Wood who is an excellent pitcher with Yu who hasn’t performed to what was expected. So not blaming it on Yu is correct. I’m sure he wanted a different result. The blame is on management.

  13. Agreee with Amanda’s comment. You should really think about what you wrote. All you want to do is find blame. Shame on you and your lack of integrity in a blog poster. Yes because a true journalist doesn’t blame or try and find a scape goat. But nope your writing clearly shows you belong to just the type of people who would rather blame others. Astros clearly the better team. Grow a pair of balls already.

  14. It’s coachable. The coaching staff and scouts have to share in this (how many inside curve and breakers can 2 guys possibly swing out. The Astros scouts were on top of it. And those walks to the mount by the catcher was more than talking signs, it was a quick review of the scout’s report). The infield defense had good moments, but far, far from consistent, and I lost count how many were left on base with 1 or 2 outs. Despite the hole they were in, the Dodgers had more than enough opportunities to get out of it. This was a team loss.

  15. Tipping pitches…Okay, but Dodgers hitters couldn’t hit a friggin barn with runners in scoring position. That was the real damage that kept them from winning. All we heard from every expert was how lousy the Astros pitching was compared to the Dodgers and yet we made those average pitchers into Cy Young considerations.

    Another problem I saw after game one was how tight the entire team became. No more licking bats, or dancing at the plate. They were so tight that they were pooping diamonds. They were not having any fun, and that starts from coaching. It was too much pressure.

    Roberts never went & never sent anyone to the mound to give his pitchers a breather. Astros went out there every other pitch. It wasn’t all strategy out there. The Astros were resting pitchers…That was a strategy. Not for Roberts, and that’s been an issue since Mattingly.

  16. It’s a bigger conspiracy but people are blind and stupid lol if you couldn’t see Darvish floating up his pitches like batting practice then I don’t know what to tell you! In 2014 SI say who would win the 2017 World Series and World Series MVP? Lol GO DODGERS!

  17. Chavez Ravine was once known as the “poor man’s Shangri La”. Since the early 1900’s, a community of mostly Mexican-American families enjoyed an idyllic small town life in the center of Los Angeles.

    The ravine is a shallow valley that sits atop a hill less than a mile from city hall. Set in the base of the valley, the community was surrounded by open hills that shielded from view the city sprawl far below. Residents who found work in the city would climb the hill at day’s end to find a country setting like the Mexican villages that had once been their home.

    Chavez Ravine was a self-contained village in many ways. Many families grew their own food and the schools and churches were operated by the locals. Evenings were spent with friends and neighbors gathered by campfires to talk, laugh and sing. Families living in the valley buried the umbilical chord of new borns in the soil – a tradition from some parts of Mexico that was intended to attach their children to their village and to the earth.

    In 1950, the 1,000 families living in Chavez Ravine received letters from the Los Angeles City Housing Authority. The purpose of the letter was to inform all owners and tenants that they would need to find somewhere else to live. Chavez Ravine had been selected for redevelopment and would serve as the site for a housing project. Elysian Park Heights would be designed by Richard Neutra and provide living quarters for 13,000 people.

    Property owners were told to sell and make room for the development that when completed would include 2 dozen13-story buildings and 160 2-story “bunkers”.

    What took place after the letters were received by residents was described by Frank Wilkinson, the Assistant Director of the Housing Authority as follows:

    “It’s the tragedy of my life, absolutely. I was responsible for uprooting I don’t know how many hundreds of people from their own little valley and having the whole thing destroyed.”

    Many families refused to leave and were finally forced out when the Sheriff’s Department arrived accompanied by bull dozers. The news photos of a widow and mother named Aurora Vargas being hauled down the front stairs of her home in 1959 by 4 armed deputies became imbeded in people’s memories. She was sentenced to a month in jail and fined $500. My mother, whose name was also Aurora, grew up speaking Spanish, and living next door to Chavez Ravine. She had friends who were forced from their homes. and although she was not religious, I was raised to believe that the dodgers were the AntiChrist. As for the homes, they were either destroyed, auctioned off, or set afire by the fire department in training exercises.

    Some families, including that of Aurora Vargas, remained on their property camping out after their house had been razed. Universal Studios purchased a house being auctioned off for a dollar and later used it as the home of Atticus Finch in the film To Kill a Mockingbird.

    After 10 years of heavyweight finagling, the project for which evicted residents were to have first pick, was never built. Most received little or no compensation for their property. Adding insult to injury, the city fathers in stead, literally gave the land to Walter O’Malley, owner of the Dodgers. Regarding the gift to O’Malley, Frank Wilkinson of the Housing Authority had this to say:

    “We’d spent millions of dollars getting ready for it, and the Dodgers picked it up for just a fraction of that. It was just a tragedy for the people, and from the city it was the most hypocritical thing that could happen.”

    The powers that be were rubbed the wrong way by Frank’s views and he was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee during its search for commie sympathizers. Before it was over, he was fired, fined and sentenced to a year in jail.

    The Dodgers and the Los Angeles City officials continue to do everything possible to erase the memory of Aurora Vargas. In 2008, the City Council took the trouble to formally drop “Chavez Ravine” by designating the stadium area as “Dodgertown”.

    The Dodger deal wasn’t consummated until the passing of a public referendum. The image of Aurora Vargas must have weighed on voter’s minds as “Yes on baseball” won by a slim 3% despite claims that no public money would be used to build the stadium. A more accurate phasing would have been “no additional public money”. The city coffers had given millions to cover legal fees, demolition, removal, grading and access roads to bring Chavez Ravine to move-in condition.

    The O’Malley family, and Walter in particular, have undeservedly ridden a wave of favorable press and popular opinion because Jackie Robinson once played for the Dodgers. Truth be told, Branch Rickey was solely responsible for hiring Robinson. Walter O’Malley was too focused on gaining control of the team and the eventual banishment of his hated rival Rickey. Once accomplished, O’Malley forbade the mention of Rickey’s name and fined any employee who did so. While O’Malley was running the organization he referred to Robinson as “Rickey’s prima donna”. Robinson was not a happy member of the organization, complained to the press about management and announced his retirement in a magazine at the somewhat early age of 37.

    O’Malley first toyed with the idea of threatening to move the Dodgers west purely to gain some leverage in his struggle to win a new stadium in Brooklyn. The Dodgers played at Ebbets Field which was drawing full crowds of 32,000 and O’Malley wanted more seats. It’s humorous that O’Malley is credited by some for his visionary contribution to the westward expansion of baseball. His motive was his own pocketbook not the future of baseball. No one has ever done more to damage baseball’s future than O’Malley. His notorious penny pinching was responsible for the failure of salary negotiations with Andy Messersmith in 1975. This led to the establishment of free agency from which baseball and its $14 beer may never recover.

    The O’Malley family won the battle for Chavez Ravine but in so doing, eliminated millions of Mexican-Americans as fans. Mexican-Americans were noticeably absent for nearly 20 years after Dodger Stadium opened until a Mexican pitcher named Fernando Valenzuela arrived in1981. Walter O’Malley had passed away but his son Peter was now in charge and he may have sensed that the curse of Aurora Vargas had run its course. Fernando hadn’t even been born when Aurora Vargas was evicted and jailed.

    Every game Fernando pitched was sold out as “Fernandomania” swept Los Angeles. In his first full season, Fernando enjoyed the greatest beginning of any pitcher in the history of baseball. The Dodgers chose to capitalize on the phenomenon and in their zeal to fill the stadium, burned him out prematurely. They had him average over 270 innings from 1982-1986. This was an indefensible act of sheer greed and unconscionable mismanagement of a great talent. In the last 15 years (2000-2014), no major league pitcher has ever been asked by any team to come remotely close to such a number. Not in a single year, let alone 5 years running. After 1986, Fernando’s arm was gone and he never had a winning record in his remaining 4 seasons with the Dodgers.

    The Dodgers have changed owners several times since the days of Fernandomania. In most of those years, preseason polls had the Dodgers as a shoe-in to make, or even win the World Series. Surprisingly, the team took 20 years before it could win a single playoff game; and hasn’t even come close to making the World Series since 1988. In recent years, the latest owners in total desperation began consistently outspending every other team in baseball in an unsuccessful attempt to buy their way into the World Series. Is there any doubt the curse of Aurora Valdez is alive and well?

    I figure the curse cut the Dodgers some slack while Fernando was with the team. However, once the Dodgers dropped him, the full vendetta was reinstated. Isn’t it obvious that the curse would want the best for Fernando? After all, he grew up in Sonora, Mexico in a small village, just like Chavez ravine.

  18. Im not blaming Darvish for the loss but I definitely think him giving up so many runs that early in game 7 set the tone. Darvish had no business pitching to Springer with 2 outs in the 2nd inning especially when he was due up 3rd the next inning. That one was on Roberts. And yes Dodgers never got that big hit from anyone with so many runners in scoring position. Dodgers made too many mistakes and got out hit. Win as a team, lose as a team.

  19. Win as a team
    Lose as a team
    Cheat as an individual

    Tipping pitches is cheating!!!
    Being down 5-0 in the 1st definitely affected the teams moral. It was gone. All was lost for them

  20. This is funny not blaming him. This dude is being paid millions and he can’t stop tipping his pitches?? If he had one bad outing OK, I don’t blame him but he had 2 that were equally as bad. And you can’t say blame the Dodger hitting not showing up because NO OTHER Dodgers pitcher gave up a run in game 7 and 1 run in game 2. Game 7 might have wound up being an extra innings win for the Dodgers. I also blame Roberts for his mismanagement of the pitching staff. If you allow Darvish to start, his leash should have been if he gives up a solo HR or RISP he gets pulled. So many “analyst” say Kershaw should not have started that game on short rest but that’s basically what he did, coming in after 1.2 innings!

  21. Actually, it’s pretty surprising that they got to a game 7 ……when 3 of the top 5 in the order were unable to hit over .160. Bats got quiet at the wrong time….

  22. I agree with both Amanda and Movonup, the Dodgers left 10 batters on base, scoring half of them would have been reflective of the type of World Series everyone saw and loved! Give credit to McCullers for being erratically effective (unfortunately hitting 4 batters!). We will have to “Wait til Next Year”! But i wouldn’t be surprised if they resigned Darvish. There’s nothing like experience and motivation to make a pitcher become more determined to prove his worth to his team and fans, just ask Kershaw!! I think we know how he did early on in the postseason and how he’s proved to himself and to the baseball world that he’s beat those demons!

  23. LA as a team were humble in defeat. The entire club showed absolute class by affording Houston the praise for their earned win. It is truly a shame that many fans of the Dodgers lack that class. Truly you disrespect your team. No Dodger member blamed one another. They have far too much dignity for such classlessness. Tip your hat to the victor. Look forward to another great season and the talent your club has. Don’t try to tarnish or diminish the victors win. Both teams were afforded the chance to win. And in this series, the better team was the Astros. So congratulate the Astros and their fans and show some class and grace. To those chastising Yu Darvish and the Dodger coaches and players, please, tell us about your World Series appearance. Tell us how you won the game. How you coached the perfect game. Tell us about your years in professional sports and the trophies, rings, and honors bestowed upon you. If you have such thing, you would not be so quick to criticize or complain. You would be grateful. Own history. Earn History. Honor History.

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