You Can't Hit What You Can't See
The hits just keep on comin'.....or not. In what turned out to be a strange and wild affair for Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox, the first year pitcher from Japan managed to go five full innings of work without giving up a single hit. In fact, Matsuzaka did walk 5 batters on 104 pitches, showing an uncharacteristically wild side and generally struggled to get comfortable all day. The Sox also ended up being too wild for their own good dropping a 5-0 game, all 5 runs coming in the 7th.In the end, Matsuzaka has only allowed one hit and one run over his last 11 2/3 innings. Over that same period he has struck out 13 batters and now sports an ERA of 2.04 on the Spring. Overall, here are Daisuke's Spring Training numbers to date:
17.2 IP
9 hits
7 walks
1 HBP
4 ER
19 Ks
2.04 ERA
.906 WHIP
9.68 K/9
2.71 K/BB
4.59 H/9
The K/BB ratio took a big hit in the Reds' game, but that would self-correct if this were the longer regular season. The main point is that he doesn't give up runs. Matsuzaka's great gift is his poise and the bulldog mentality that allows him to be this good, despite being as bad as he was against the Reds, if you follow me. One more start in the Spring, and then the real show begins. In the meantime, keep watching with me here and grab yourself a brand spankin' new authentic Matsuzaka jersey from Majestic by clicking one of the links in the right margin. (plug, plug, plug....)
Let's go Daisuke!!
posted by Mike Plugh @ 11:16 AM
7 Comments:
Good man! I very much adore how Dice-K is extremely self-critical. Despite pitching a magnificent no-hit game in 5 2/3 innings, he still beats himself up for the 6 walks he managed to hold at bay. Such puritanical pensiveness and hard work perfectly in this climate called New England.
He just threw 5 innings today, and only walked 5. He did K 6 though. Fun to see him work his way through not having his best stuff... So apparently when he struggles he starts throwing 5 inning no hitters. Sweet.
on a side note here...
MP is there any way to find a Seibu Lions Matsuzaka Jersey nowadays? I've looked up on various places on internet including auctions, but they don't have my size. They only have L and apparently it wouldn't fit on me (i'm 182cm tall, that's 6'0")
Seibu Lions official site starts selling this year's merchandise too but they don't make Matsuzaka's anymore.
There's one seller who sells the Olympics version.. but guess how much? 600 CDN = 580 US dollar ;(
Yeah....John, I feel you. It's almost impossible to get a Matsuzaka Seibu jersey anymore. It was hard to get one when he was over here, but now it's next to impossible.
I bought the authentic job for abotu $300US last year, and therefore received my Seibu Lions official merchandise catalog again this year. No Matsuzaka merchandise. I think Japan's #1 flaw for sports is the lack of sense about marketing. The NPB is marketed like an 8 year old is running the business, and the fact that the hottest potential jersey Stateside (a Seibu Matsuzaka #18) isn't even sold anymore.
Tragic.
Although there must be a lacklustre marketing strategy (which could be explained in the free-falling NPB attendence number), NPB jerseys are still of better quality than the MLB jerseys in my opinion.
300 US?Ｉsuppose you got the authentic one then? Do you know how sizing would work? Because I've tried on MLB size XL and it's slightly too big for me whereas L fits me great but as we all know American size is bigger than Japanese size; so I'm really curious if an L would fit.
Speaking of Matsuzaka's game today.. he refused to talk the reporters after the game and issued couple statements; which simply expresses his dissatisfaction and disgruntlement about today's performance. I, too, was surprised to see him throwing 5 walks. But I think he should be fine as season keeps going. I have him in all my Yahoo fantasy league lol; too bad NPB doesn't have fantasy league too.
心を、ひとつに。力を、ひとつに。
Hi John.
Yes, I got the authentic, and it's of very good quality. I think the L in Japan would be an M for Western sizing. That's been my experience. I think I got a XXL to fit me as an L/XL guy. I like the jersey a little big, so I went XXL. It's big around the middle, which is cool, but it's not so long. That's where the sizing is off. Not girth, but length.
By the way, when I say "Not girth, but length" I had only the purest intentions. After reading it again, I think I should erase that comment. ;)
Post a Comment
<< Home