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Despite the fact that these two teams were rained out yesterday, the Rangers lost the other half of a split-squad doubleheader to drop even further below .500 in Cactus League play. These two teams have combined to lose 66.6% of their spring training games to date, but one of them has to win today. Unless they tie.
It's Randy Wolf vs Yu Darvish at 3:05 today, and you can follow the jump for the pitching matchup and lineup, listen live on Brewers.com and join us in the comments to discuss this juggernaut showdown.
Get your "Yu" jokes ready, as Yu Darvish (3.60 ERA this spring) makes his third Cactus League start. Darvish has allowed two runs on five hits this spring, walking four and striking out six in five innings. Both runs and all four walks came in his last appearance on March 13 against the Indians. He pitched three innings in that game.
This is Darvish's first start in Surprise(!) this spring, although it might have been more appropriate if the Rangers hadn't announced it in advance. JP Starkey of SB Nation Dallas says Darvish has been pitching exclusively out of the stretch this spring, so it'll be interesting to see if he breaks out the windup today.
He'll face Randy Wolf (2.08 ERA this spring, 3.69/4.29 ERA/FIP in 2011), who by comparison is much less interesting. Wolf is making his fourth Cactus League start and his first since pitching four innings against the Cubs on Wednesday. He allowed two runs (the only two he's allowed all spring) on five hits, walking one and striking out four in that game.
Wolf has pitched 346 games over his 13 years in the majors, and every last one of them have come as a member of a National League team. As such, he's faced the Rangers just one time: In 2009 as a Dodger he shut them out for five innings while allowing just two hits. This information is completely worthless, but hopefully you enjoyed it anyway.
John Axford, Jose Veras, Tim Dillard and Zach Braddock are also expected to pitch today. Braddock was also expected to pitch yesterday but did not appear.
Here's today's Brewer lineup:
Rickie Weeks 2B
Nyjer Morgan CF
Ryan Braun LF
Travis Ishikawa 1B
Alex Gonzalez SS
George Kottaras DH
Jonathan Lucroy C
Norichika Aoki RF
Cesar Izturis 3B
Randy Wolf P
Enjoy the game!