of walks Nelson Cruz Jersey , yet wasn’t worried. After a rocky first season for the Chicago Cubs full of injuries, he felt fine.“No pain,” he said Tuesday. “That was a huge part.”Darvish walked four in 1 1/3 innings against Arizona and didn’t give up a hit. It was his first time facing major league hitters since May — his last minor league rehab outing came in August and he had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in September.A four-time All-Star with Texas, Darvish went 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA in eight starts last season with the Cubs, his first since signing a $126 million, six-year contract.“This is like my first outing in my life,” Darvish said. “I haven’t thrown the last seven months. I was so excited.”Darvish threw 36 pitches, only 17 for strikes. But he hit 96 mph with a fastball, a significant jump from his final outing in the minors last year.“It was a great day for me,” Darvish said.The 32-year-old Japanese ace also cracked a couple of jokes in English as he opted not to use a translator.“Interpreters are expensive for the organization, right? That’s why,” Darvish said.FROM AROUND THE GRAPEFRUIT AND CACTUS LEAGUESCARDINALS 6, NATIONALS 1Adam Wainwright pitched two hitless innings and Paul Goldschmidt doubled and scored for St. Louis. Anibal Sanchez threw two hitless innings for Washington and Michael A. Taylor had two doubles.Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez had an injection to stimulate healing in his weak pitching shoulder and likely will not be in the starting rotation at the beginning of the season.RAYS 11, ORIOLES 5Christian Arroyo, a first-round draft pick by the San Francisco in 2013, homered for Tampa Bay during a 10-run eighth inning.Chris Davis hit a two-run homer for Baltimore. The game was shortened to eight innings because of rain.BRAVES 4, METS (SS) 3Starters Sean Newcomb of Atlanta and Corey Oswalt of New York each threw two hitless innings.Mets third baseman Todd Frazier said he has an injured left oblique muscle and will return to New York for a cortisone injection. Infielder Jed Lowrie is sidelined with pain in the back of his knee.TWINS 6 Carlos Ruiz Jersey , PIRATES 5Eddie Rosario doubled and singled for Minnesota. Tyler Duffy started and struck out three in two hitless innings.Patrick Kivlehan homered and singled for Pittsburgh.MARLINS 3, ASTROS 0Dan Straily started for the Miami and fanned three in two innings. Houston starter Gerrit Cole pitched a fast first inning and Wade Miley followed with two scoreless innings.TIGERS 14, METS (SS) 4Pete Kozma hit a three-run homer and Gordon Beckham doubled, singled and drove in a pair of runs for Detroit. Lefty Matthew Boyd started and gave up two runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings.Rajai Davis doubled, homered and drove in two runs for the Mets. Zack Wheeler started and worked an inning and Jeurys Familia worked the second inning, giving up two runs on two hits.GIANTS 4, REDS 3Scooter Gennett doubled and singled for Cincinnati. Lefty Brandon Finnegan started and worked a clean inning.San Francisco starter Dereck Rodriguez gave up two hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.WHITE SOX 9, ROYALS (SS) 7Already pleased with his leadership in the clubhouse since acquiring him in a trade with Cleveland, the White Sox saw Yonder Alonso’s power when he hit a two-run homer and a double.Hunter Dozier and M.J. Melendez each homered for the Royals.PADRES 3, BREWERS 1Highly touted Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a two-run homer for San Diego. Chris Paddack struck out four in a two-inning start.Zach Davies threw two hitless innings for Milwaukee and Mike Moustakas doubled.ROYALS (SS) 8, DODGERS 2A.J. Pollock had two hits for Los Angeles and starter Kenta Maeda struck out two of the three batters he faced.Kansas City starter Ian Kennedy gave up one hit over two innings.INDIANS 5, ROCKIES 3Carlos Santana hit his first home run since being traded back to Cleveland in December. Daniel Johnson homered and tripled.Kyle Freeland, a 17-game winner a year ago, worked two innings in the start for the Rockies, giving up a run on one hit and a walk.RANGERS 4, MARINERS 4, 9 INNINGSJay Bruce had two hits and Kyle Seager doubled for Seattle. Marco Gonzales started and worked three strong innings http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , striking out five.Nomar Mazara doubled and singled for Texas.ANGELS 17, ATHLETICS 5Mike Trout got his first hit this spring and Peter Bourjos homered and singled for Los Angeles.Stephen Piscotty had two hits and two RBIs for Oakland. Reliever Fernando Rodney gave up four runs on four hits while getting just one out.DIAMONDBACKS 5, CUBS 4Wilmer Flores doubled and drove in three runs for Arizona. Starter Zack Godley was roughed up, giving up four runs on two hits and two walks while recording just two outs.Albert Almora Jr. and Javier Baez each doubled for the Cubs. Anything can happen in two weeks of games, but some things can help us update our expectations"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Houston Astros NewsGame ThreadsHouston Astros Minor LeaguesAstros Game DayPodcastsThe Most Encouraging Part of the Young 2019 SeasonNew,25commentsAnything can happen in two weeks of games, but some things can help us update our expectationsCDTShareTweetShareShareThe Most Encouraging Part of the Young 2019 SeasonErik Williams-USA TODAY SportsIn early-April baseball, small sample sizes are often the name of the game. Shoot, just a week ago at this time, the Astros were a 2-4 team who had just dropped an embarrassing series to their cross state rivals thanks in part to hitting with runners in scoring position that felt like what you would get by letting Santiago Casilla stand at the plate with a salami stick.But that was mostly just a spot of bad luck that was bound to let up eventually, even if none of the hitters made any material changes to their approach at the plate. And sure enough, after that pair of losses in three tries in Arlington, the Astros returned home to face two of their strongest competitors in the A’s and Yankees鈥nd promptly swept them both while averaging 6 runs a game and mounting several clutch rallies. So yeah, I don’t blame you if you’re still not totally abandoning your pre-season predictions just yet in favor of just two weeks of games. I’m not at that stage either, for the most part. But, the little bit of data that we do have isn’t totally without merit, which is why I think the performance of Carlos Correa is both meaningful and the most encouraging thing so far this season. Correa’s down 2018 season was a big reason the Houston offense didn’t live up to what many people predicted in the pre-season. Correa blamed that in part of his June back problems that landed him on the injured list and cost him all of July http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , and it’s not particularly hard to see why. In his final 37 games, the shortstop batted an abysmal .180/.261/.256. But even in the first half, his .268/.352/.480 line was a clear step back from the .315/.391/.550 slash he put up at age 22. I think it’s very possible that his back was bothering him even before he actually missed time.When he sat out the last few Spring Training games and the first few regular season ones, I took that as a sign of the worst; his various injuries had flared up again, and would continue to nag at him through the year. The Astros had enough depth that it wouldn’t be a death sentence, but that’s never something you want to see in the opening week of the season.And that’s why I actually feel like there’s more reason to take stock in Correa’s early season numbers. There was a real question entering the year whether he would be healthy enough to reach his full potential, the kind of question that even the smartest and most informed of us can only shrug at and say “wait and see”. And while ten games is still barely anything, ten games of .316/.381/.579 baseball is both not terribly out of line with what we know a healthy Correa is capable of, and a heck of a lot more encouraging than ten games of, say, .216/.281/.429. Moreover, it’s worth looking at the underlying numbers driving that batting line, which tend to stabilize a little quicker than traditional hitting stats (although there is still volatility this early in the year). Last year, Correa struck out at a higher rate than he has in any other season (23.7%, versus 20.7% for his career), saw his power drop substantially (.167 isolated slugging instead of .200), and saw fewer balls in play falling in for hits (.282 BABIP against a career .317 mark). His drop in hard-hit balls Jay Buhner Jersey , relatively poor fielding numbers, and loss of hits up the middle/increase in hits to the opposite field all also seem pretty consistent with what we would from a player suffering from a major core injury.Once again, these all seem to have returned to normal, if not career bests, so far in 2019. His walk and K rates are in line with what we’d expect, and his ISO (.263), line drive percentage (26.1%), BABIP (.400), and hard-hit percentage (34.8% before last night’s single, double, and homer) don’t seem like the work of someone fighting a lingering back injury. Even though some of those obviously aren’t sustainable, they also don’t seem like they’re in danger of suddenly dropping to 2017 levels, either.The six wins in the books against major rivals is also nice of course, but teams can get hot or cold at the flip of a switch, sometimes without reason. But the things we can see in Correa’s batting line this far feels like it clears up one of the major question marks we had entering 2019. A healthy Carlos Correa makes this lineup look so much better, and makes me feel like it actually might be able to live up to or even surpass the pre-season predictions.