Well, that was certainly something.
Jeff Caplan at ESPN Dallas says that a change of focus led to Yu Darvish's shutout of the Rays. According to Washington the secret is "thinking less," a bedrock corporate management philosophy known the world over. Brad Townsend at the DMN also quotes Washington on Darvish's paradigm shift, with Wash saying that Darvish had to "dump the baggage" and stop worrying about walks and expectations. Wash and Darvish's post-game comments also feature heavily in the game recap at the Star-Telegram and in T.R. Sullivan's wrap-up. With Yu Darvish pitching his best game since April by emptying his mind and focusing on each pitch, this video on kyudo or zen archery seems apropos.
This week on As Roy Oswalt Turns, things got mad real. We learned from T.R. Sullivan that the Rangers are talking to other clubs about trading Oswalt, though a source said "the Rangers are unlikely to trade Oswalt to a potential American League playoff opponent," likely due to the Rangers' well-known organizational sense of sportsmanship and fair play, Jeff Wilson reported that Roy "declined to answer directly" when asked if he wanted to be traded, and Gerry Fraley tells us that Oswalt said, about a potential trade, "I have no control over that, I just do what they tell me to do," before returning to toil ignominiously in the bullpen.
On a brighter note, Jurickson Profar will likely be with the big club at some point next month, according to Jeff Wilson's pre-game notes, plus possibly Brandon Snyder, Martin Perez, and Leonys Martin. Scheppers has been told he will be returning when rosters expand, as well. Wilson also tells us that Napoli doesn't appear to be making much progress on rehabbing his hurt quad.
Behind the paywall, Evan Grant says Yu Darvish's development is right on track.
At ESPN Dallas, Jeff Caplan has a post about Mitch Moreland having two great plays in the field last night, and also has his rapid reactions to the game.
Going with his gut, Ron Washington is none too concerned about Tropical Storm Isaac threatening his home in New Orleans.
Here's an 18 minute short film called Play Dead about 5 dogs in a zombie apocalypse. Good concept, spotty execution, it was apparently shot with a budget of $6,000.00. They went with the "fast zombies," rather than the George Romero classic "slow zombies." Still, it's interesting and generated some buzz on Kickstarter, and a throwaway joke about Abraham Lincoln spawned a book and then big-budget film so this is probably Christopher Nolan's next project.