Piracy
Lets face it. Those of us who know what Matsuzaka is, expect him to have performances like his most recent. Nearly six innings of 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 run baseball with 7 strikeouts is par for the Daisuke course in my book. I realize that the Pirates are probably the closest thing to an NPB level franchise in the Major Leagues, so the excitement must be tempered, but the results are the results.Daisuke hits batters on occasion. He hit batters in Japan and he's going to hit batter in the United States. The leadoff buzz of Chris Duffy was less a pitch with a message behind it than simply one that got away. It's been my experience with this player that some of his finest performances also feature multiple hit batsmen. That's just the way it is. Duffy was moved to third on two ground outs and scored on Adam LaRoche's single. The remainder of the game was a 13 up and 13 down affair, 7 of which were Ks. Dominating.
Daisuke's pitching line for the Spring now looks like this:
12.2 IP
9 hits
2 walks
1 HBP
4 ER
13 Ks
2.84 ERA
0.868 WHIP
9.24 K/9
6.50 K/BB
6.40 H/9
Let's now look at those numbers projected to 186.1 IP, the total he produced for Seibu last season. For comparison, you'll find the actual stats in parentheses next to these calculations.
186.1 IP
132 hits (139)
29 BB (33)
15 HBP (3)
59 ER (43)
191 Ks (200)
2.84 ERA (2.13)
0.868 WHIP (0.923)
9.24 K/9 (9.66)
6.50 K/BB (6.06)
6.40 H/9 (6.71)
It's early. It's Spring Training. The numbers are ridiculously similar nonetheless. I have said all along that Matsuzaka is a Jordanesque figure who rises to the level of the competition. He's the kind of fish that will grow to the size of the tank, and when the tank is big enough to accommodate Johan Santana, Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay, and Pedro Martinez, the tank is big enough to accommodate Daisuke Matsuzaka. Watch his ratios at the end of Spring and then follow me as I chart them through his first 5-10 starts. I bet you'll find a shaky game here or there, but in the end the ratios will look like this.
posted by Mike Plugh @ 10:32 PM
4 Comments:
Hi, I've been a lurker for sometime now but I've pretty much read every post so far on your blog. Just wanted to say good job, you are the #1 source to follow Matsuzaka. Keep up the great work.
Dean
Thanks Dean.
I appreciate the kind words. Keep coming back for more....
Mike.
Welll, he is not going to be in Boston for long I know it and my heart is pounding well for Boston its their new voodoo since the Bambino and for the New York Yankees will be a miracle.
Matsuzaka like Babe Ruth will be a one time player for the Boston Red Sox(I wish I was in Jersey) then I will be gald to see him in the Yankees just like I said and it is before they broke the Bambino curse that is they took out Babe Ruth voodoo and they going to start they Matsuzaka voodoo.
I am telling you that picther is voodoo and the Boston Red Sox are playing with voodoo and they have a new voodoo spell its called Diese Matsuzaka.
Miguel
This post looks absolutely brilliant two weeks later.
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