Despite blister and workload, Darvish set for next start

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Yu Darvish threw 29 pitches in the bullpen on Friday and said he is ready for his next start, against the Angels on Sunday. That will be his first start since throwing 111 pitches against the Astros on Tuesday.

Darvish pitched the final few innings of that outing with a blister on the ring finger of his right hand but said that should not be a problem on Sunday.

"I had the problem in Japan, but it's not really a blister," Darvish said. "The skin just came off. I'm ready to go."

Said manager Ron Washington: "I think it bothers him on certain pitches. He just throws the other ones. He's got 29,000 choices."

Darvish also said that he has had no trouble bouncing back from throwing 111 pitches. The Rangers were concerned about him throwing that many in his first outing after he'd thrown no more than 78 in any outing in Spring Training, but there have been no ill effects.

"It's been a good process of recovery," Darvish said.

Of course, the Rangers let Darvish throw that many because he had a chance to throw a perfect game. He retired the first 26 batters before giving up a single to Marwin Gonzalez with two outs in the ninth. Gonzalez hit a hard grounder back up the middle that went through Darvish's legs, but Darvish hasn't been sitting around wondering what would have happened if he could have put down his glove quicker.

"There are not any ifs in baseball," he said. "That was impossible no matter how you look at it."