The Countdown to Launch
Hello Matsuzaka Watch true believers. I've been very lax about posting since Matsuzaka signed his Major League deal, mainly because there has been little real news, but also for the busy task of caring for my newborn son.The countdown to Spring Training begins, and I'm ready to get back into full court press mode at Matsuzaka Watch. The offseason is far too long, and the dull days of a baseball-less winter are finally fading into history. You'll notice that I gave the blog a facelift recently with the Green Monster banner, and some additional Red Sox related links in the right hand margin. There will be more on the way as we get closer to the season, including a "projected next start" marker that will help the casual fan keep tabs on the rotation and each Daisuke appearance. I also reopened the comments section. Without the competing fandoms swirling around the posting process, I think the commentary should be a lot more interesting. Go to it.
In the meantime, I'm working on a couple of big pieces to kick things off for the debut of our young hero. Without letting the cat out of the bag too much, I'm trying to put the final pieces together on an interview with a well known pitching expert to talk about the type of things we should expect from Daisuke's new MLB routine, and how it departs from his overloaded Japan background. I'm also working on some writing about the gyroball. It seems that CNNSI (among others) have beaten me to the punch as the season approaches. There is a very nice piece by "Sake Drenched Postcards" own Brett Bull cross-posted for your enjoyment. I've been mulling over the gyroball piece for some months now. I have the power point presentations and video clips from the team responsible for hypothesizing the pitch, and it's very interesting. Matsuzaka is featured prominently in the report, although how exactly he participated is a bit cloudy.Dr. Himeno and his team work on the motions required to generate a gyroball by observing the "human swing technique" involved in generating torque during a golf swing. I'll get into more details on a rainy day, but suffice it to say these guys are serious.
I'll also be examining the Red Sox rotation a bit, and discussing some of the pitching rotation issues that may emerge under a number of different scenarios. I'm happy to announce the creation of a mailbag feature that I'll be running fairly often. Send your questions and comments by clicking the link at the top of the sidebar. Get ready for a boatload of Matsuzaka related commentary. The season is about to begin.....
posted by Mike Plugh @ 11:19 PM
4 Comments:
As you probably already know, I have some serious issues with the likes of bloggers who post blogs that have completely inaccurate facts/stats in them (el guapo's ghost). No doubt you know what you're talking about when it comes to your Japanese players, and there are no complaints from me. A suggestion that I, and probably other new Matsuzaka fans would enjoy seeing would be a Daisuke vs. other Japanese batters statline. For example what the numbers are for Matsui or Ichiro vs. Matsuzaka. You could throw in some factoids and other bits of interesting information on the matchups that come from your Japan strong baseball mind.
dionnesdugout.com
Continued success.
-gd
according to boston.com: Daisuke Matsuzaka is in California working out this week, and will speak to the media today at the offices of his agent, Scott Boras, at 5:30 p.m. ET
Congratulations on the birth of your child. I've got to say, as a baseball (and Red Sox) fan I'm psyched about watching Daisuke. I saw him in San Diego against Cuba (as well as Koji Uehara and Fukodome, who I cannot wait to see in the states either) and ever since then dreamed of him pitching for us. Your commentary over the last year has been great (although I did disagree with a little bit of what you wrote immediately after the posting) and I can't wait to read more of what you have to offer.
I hope that, going forward, both Red Sox fans and Yankees fans can at least respectfully debate and argue. I've always disagreed with treating each other like trash simply because of their team affiliation, and fans from both sides have said some amazingly stupid things (no Red Sox ones off the top of my head, but I remember during the last offseason, someone commented about some question marks the Red Sox had in their rotation with Schilling's rehab and Clement, but those two guys were completely sold on Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small...).
Here's to Daisuke in 2007 and beyond (and both of our respective fan bases growing up...).
Can't wait to hear you criticize the Red Sox some more!
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