Great for a home opener, not so great for the now 0 - 7 Detroit tigers, who have gone from World Series contenders to bottom feeders in just over a week.
Dice-K on the other hand looks to be starting off as strong as last season, remember that we didn’t see him start to struggle past the 5th until later in the summer…although I almost had a flashback to last August when he loaded up the bases on walks in the 5th, maybe its just the post World Series Championship jitters talking, in that i honestly expect a meltdown anytime now…or at least some sort of vortex to form in the middle of Massachusetts and suck in the entire team.
In his short lived tenure as the defending World Champions #1 starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka did not disappoint.
With 6.2 Innings Pitched he gave up only 2 hits, and had a staggering 9 K’s with ZERO walks while keeping his ERA at 2.31.
Not bad considering his did get torched for a few in the preseason.
His inconsistency didn’t show and he actually held it together past the 5th, which was refreshing since I cant remember him looking solid past 4 and 2/3 inning since last July!
Needless to say, his next start isn’t until next Tuesday, when he takes on Kenny Rogers for the Fenway home opener.
After a long post World Series hiatus, Gyroballmania will return for another ass kicking season of following Dice-K Matsuzaka and the Red Sox.
This season, it will be more about Dice-K, more about the Red Sox pitching staff, and more about what the blogosphere has to say about the Boston Red Sox organization.
So stay tunes, buckle up and wipe the slobber from your chin…baseball is back and so is Gyroballmania!
Not the way you’d want to end the first half of the season, but I’ll tell you I’m glad that outing is over. Strange control issues plagued Dice-K’s 18th start of the season, giving up three dingers (I know, what?) 10 hits and 6 ER’s.
After a disgustingly dominant outing against the Devil Rays, Dice-K was lit up against Detroit on Sunday, giving the Tigers a sweep of the series and Dice-K a lot to think about while he takes a few days off.
Maybe his CD sales were slipping and it stressed him out a bit?
It seems like Dice-K Matsuzaka has just arrived. But we’re already talking about Dice-K Part 2, the sequel.
His name is Yuki Saito and he is a 5′9″ right handed freshman at Waseda University in Japan. He just led his team to the All Japan University Championships in June, posting these numbers for the tournament:
The title “Handerchief Kid” comes from the white sweatmop he hangs out of his back pocket to dry himself with during games. Unlike the US, this kid has been a national icon since he was 8.
He will be eligible for the bigs in 2011, until then, I gues we just have to settle for that other Japanese pitching superstar.
With the release of his new CD today, Dice-K Matsuzaka walked out of Fenway with a dominant win against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Pitching 8 shutout inning and surrendering only 4 hits. Dice-K was never in trouble as the Red Sox walked over the flailing Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
In a lot of Dice-K starts this year he has put up a solid game only to be left out to dry by the Red Sox hitters…none more than slumping short stop Julio Lugo.
Lugo snapped out of an 0 - 33 slump Tuesday by going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s and starting off the scoring for the Sox.
Dice-K’s ERA has plummeted down to 3.53 (he has been as high as 4.83 this season) and his Strikouts now put him at 119 K’s, tied for third in the majors.
Oh ya, and congrats to Ty Wigginton for tasting the gyroball. If you missed it, it was the top of the fifth and Wigginton was batting first and Dice-K unleashed the gyro. Sit down Ty, sit down.
As of the first inning of his 17th start in the Majors, Dice-K Matsuzaka sat in sole possession of 6th place in the Majors with 111 strikeouts over 107.2 innings.
Not bad for a rookie.
In the last month, Dice-K has pitched 34 innings, struck out 42 batters and had an ERA of 1.59. Ridiculous.
He had a few mediocre outings in late May due to some serious grumpy guts, but if the Red Sox bats had been even remotely luke warm in a bunch of his starts, we’d be looking at a Major League Leader in Wins.
He has lost 4 games by a total margin of 7 runs, including two 2 - 1 losses.
With the Evil Empire over in the Bronx stinking out the five boroughs with their atrocious play, this is the opportunity for the Sox to gain some more distance on the rest of the A.L. East.
Luckily, the BoSox recent skid has corresponded quite nicely alongside the Yankees current streak of garbage play, but over the next two months they need to take advantage of mismatches like these to make sure they keep New York right where they deserve to be; gnawing on table scraps behind the Blue Jays.
Not that they NEED this series in particular, they play the Devil Rays 18 MORE FREAKIN TIMES over the last half of the season.
This is the best case scenario for the Sox but they need to capitalize on the ailing Devil Rays, who are last place in the A.L. East at 33-48. They begin the series tonight with Dice-K who will be taking on left hander Scott Kazmir (5-4, 4.26), then follow up with Wakefield and Beckett (not too shabby).
After going 4 - 6 in the last 10 games, the Red Sox could use a solid win streak to get right back on track as the BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL!
Regardless of standings though, it still feels GREAT to have any opportunity to beat up on the Devil Rays!
6.2 IP, 7 K, 4 Hits and a 1.47 ERA. BooYakashaa!
In his short lived tenure as the defending World Champions #1 starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka did not disappoint.
He’s done? Too many innings? Can’t hack a full MLB season?
