Daily Distractions: Making sense of Yu Darvish’s near no-no.

Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish, left, was removed after losing his perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros. His next opponent is the Angels. (Associated Press)

On an off-day for the Angels, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros created a compelling night of action in the American League West on Tuesday.

In case you missed it, Yu Darvish retired 26 straight Astros to start the game before allowing a single to Marwin Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth inning. No longer are the Houston Astros completely anonymous. As the New York Daily News proclaimed, “YU BLEW IT.”

The pertinent question for the Halos: Are the Astros that bad, or is Darvish that good?

The right-hander joined a list that includes Dave Stieb, Mike Mussina and eight pitchers you might not have heard of who have lost perfect games in the ninth inning. Anyone can do it, even Armando Galarraga.

Ken Rosenthal and Mark Mulder blamed the Astros. Jean-Jacques Taylor and Bo Porter credited Darvish. Alan Ashby, the Astros’ color commentator, reacted with racial overtones (I think).

The Angels will find out soon enough whether Darvish’s stuff is for real. If he pitches on regular rest, he’ll face the Angels (and Jered Weaver) on Sunday in Arlington. The game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. national broadcast on ESPN2.

Some bullet points for a Wednesday morning:

Mike Trout earned more for fantasy baseball owners last season than Trout earned himself.

• Happy belated birthday (one day late) to former Angels pitcher Don Sutton, one of few professional athletes who can call himself a regular on the Game Show Network.

Now hear this! Starting at 4 p.m., it’s the live broadcast of a Washington Senators game from Sept. 21, 1939, courtesy of WJSV and narrated by Walter Johnson.

• Eye-opening stat courtesy of @msimonespn: The slash line for all of MLB through three days is .217/.288/.341, a .629 OPS. Those numbers will rise as teams trot out their third, fourth and fifth starters.

• John Denver kept it real. Like a rapper who lives, and raps about, a hard-knock life, Denver was an environmentalist who sang about the environment. Also like too many rappers, Denver died too young. His music lives on with a soon-to-be-released cover album; NPR has the “First Listen”:

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