Hate to Say, "I Told You So"
But, I told you so. The Tribe is powerful and probably the most legitimate threat to Boston in the AL this season. The pitching isn't quite the same caliber as the Sox, but they can flat out mash with the best of them. Matsuzaka was bound to have some problems today, but as a fan and a long time observer of Daisuke, I have to think that the illness also affected his between starts routine a bit. He likes his consistent workouts, and food poisoning will disrupt just about anything short of bed rest. No excuses, he stunk up the joint. His ERA is now 4.83 and he'll need a very strong June to get himself back to a respectable three-point-something.My prediction was actually pretty close. Actual with my prediction in parentheses:
5.2 IP (7 IP)
12 hits (9)
no BB (3)
4 K (7)
1 HR (2)
6 ER (5)
Daisuke threw 106 pitches in less than 6 innings. 73 of them were for strikes, so you have to wonder if he should have worked a bit more carefully to a few of the Indians. He didn't walk anyone today, but he allowed 13 baserunners with the HBP of Garko. I had him at 12 baserunners on the day. More analysis and fallout from Japan as the news spreads that he was hit hard today....
posted by Mike Plugh @ 10:12 AM
17 Comments:
good call. his breaking stuff covered too much of the plate
:(
I'm hoping by the end of June his ERA will dropped to mid 3
DiceK must be down. He must be confused. I hope he is not going to pack up and go home like Larry Bird did when he went to Indiana...
Francona should have yanked him after the fifth, I thought. He hadn't been terribly sharp to that point -- not up to his usual standard -- and had, after all, just been ill; 80-odd pitches was a good outing under those circumstances.
I don't blame Matsuzaka. He just got left in he game too long.
Do not worry about him packing up and going home. He is a very tough kid, and I am sure he will bounce back strongly. He will come around in Summer.
Just watched the recorded game; seems like he was having the usual 1 inning location problem.
There's certainly more work to do - to find that consistency going. After all this is MLB not NPB; you may be able to get away with several off-pitches in NPB but definitely not in the MLB.
He won't falter. And he probably puts the most pressure on himself than the entire red sox nation fans
Looking forward to rebound next game
Hey Mike-
Don't you worry that Dice-K will only have MORE trouble as time goes on, seeing as the league is likely to figure him out and get more used to him with time?
The league might figure something out about him, but the reason I think he'll figure out more than his opponents at this point is that the learning curve for a player entering the Majors from somewhere else, be it the minors or a foreign league, is much higher than the learning curve is for a Major League batter studying a single pitcher.
Matsuzaka has flashed his prior form on a number of occasions, and in most of his innings pitched actually. He has been victimized by the big inning rather than the awful outing. It's not all that different than what Beckett went through last season coming in from the NL.
Well that all sounded quite uplifting until that last comment - Beckett finished with a 5.something last year... yikes! Let's hope Dice-K can find his consistency quicker than Beckett did.
Beckett had a 5+ era because he wouldn't throw the curveball. I believe Daisuke's era will be better than that because his mistakes are just location problems. An era of high 3s to low 4s should be doable for Daisuke.
Hey! Is Dice-K definitely pitching Tuesday and not Monday? I've got sweet tickets to the Tuesday game.. my Matsuzaka jersey just arrived, and God help me if I get Julian Tavarez.
Matsuzaka is frustrating to watch. It looked like he had turned a corner with his 3 strong performances (including a complete game), then he had that vomiting episode in Texas.
I don't know if that Texas game had any carry over effect on his preparation for the Cleveland game, but Dice-K looked bad.
This was in a Yahoo Fantasy blog:
"• Daisuke Matsuzaka would rather you not know how – or where – he sleeps. Bothered by a stomach ailment during Friday's start in Texas (he pitched poorly and, true to his run support, won), Matsuzaka revealed to Japanese reporters that, for the benefit of his back, he'd traded the soft American hotel beds for the hard American hotel floors. According to the Boston Herald, Matsuzaka believes this might also have led to the virus, which could have been hiding in the filthy American carpets. Anyway, he's got another plan to save his back, which he'll keep private because, the story said, "he preferred not to have people wondering or imagining how he looked while he slept." Consider it done."
I read this and chuckled like I was supposed to, as this is most likely just a humorous blurb, but looking at it in another way, is it possible/true that Matsuzaka has been experiencing back problems or pain?
Mr Anon.
Tavarez is pitching Monday and DiceK Tuesday, if I remember correctly.
But really, Julian is a blast to watch live :)
Man, you and me really predict along the same page... my prediction of my DiceK watch blog (www.diceKwatch.blogspot.com) was very similar to yours. And my view of the Indians is identical to yours! You have done better in terms of predictions this year, though... great job! You are a very good prediction/analysis guy... you should try out for espn!
my favorite prediction of yours mike is that dice-k will become a truly dominating pitcher. i hope this prediction will come true like all your other ones.
Let's face the truth.. Matsuzaka just isn't that good
Post a Comment
<< Home