O's destroy Matsuzaka, make fool of Red Sox Nation

by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2007 1:59 AM EDT in News & Rumors

Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed six hits and four runs -- three earned -- over four innings, taking his first loss this spring in a 5-3 Orioles win over the Red Sox.

Matsuzaka also threw away a potential double play ball, but after the game seemed to keep his head and realize that this is spring training, he's worth a lot of money, and this all doesn't mean anything.

Steve Trachsel was ehhh over three innings -- 6 H, 2 ER -- to grab the win, and Jim Hoey picked up his second save. Growing sentimental favorite Jon Knott went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, and Jason Dubois was 2-for-3 with a big fly, starting at first base. Both home runs were hit off of Matsuzaka, who remarked afterward, "Judging from what I experienced, throwing high fastballs and high sliders can tend to be a little bit dangerous."

Also, I wanted to plug the debut broadcast of the SB Nation Sports Report over at BlogTalk Radio. Hopefully sometime I'll be on there, talking about either which Oriole is now firing steroids into his hindquarters or huffing paint, or something to do with boxing, which is my other real passion. Most of the premiere edition of the show focused on selection Sunday, as expected.

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The fix was in

I went over to the Over The Monster today to see how they were reacting to Dice-K getting diced. And I ran into this post from Saturday, which stated:

For those of you who read Japanese, Matsuzaka has some interesting comments regarding his goals for tomorrow.

The headline of this linked article can be roughly translated as: Matsuzaka "I want the hitters to demolish me"

http://matsuzaka.nikkansports.com/news/p-bb-tp2-20070311-168052.html

His core argument was that Igawa's loss the other day was a good experience. The key is learning from each ST start.

Basically Matsuzaka's goals for tomorrow are:

Throw lots of high breaking balls
Figure out/test the strike zone

One can surmise that this probably means the following for the Sunday start:
a) Few strikes/many walks given up
b) Many pop-ups or HR's
c) Matsuzaka's ERA may balloon tomorrow, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

If I read this correctly, Matsuzaka was using Spring Training as, you know, training, and not as a chance to prove himself. So it remains to be seen whether Knott and Dubois were trendsetters, or merely being served up fat pitches.

Still, it's fun to beat up on the guy with our minor leaguers. And I really want Knott to make the team.

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 3:18 AM EDT reply actions

Are the folks at Over the Monster

Japanese translators now? I mean I've seen BoSox fans say some pretty outrageous things before, but this could take the cake. I hit the link and found a mess of Kanji, Hiragana and Katagana. Plus even if it does say something like that, anyone who knows anything about Japanese knows the purpose of the language is to be vague...whilst the demeanor in the culture is to be humble. I have a more empriical conclusion from yesterday's outing: Homeboy got lit up, deal with it.

by Jonnypops on Mar 12, 2007 7:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Homeboy got lit up

"Homeboy got lit up, deal with it"

HAHAHA

Well put! Where was that gyroball we've been hearing so much about?

As of right now I'll take my chances against this guy in the regular season.

Oriole Magic! Feel it Happen!

by Mike Boehm on Mar 12, 2007 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Umm, look a little more closely

The author of the post's userid is jeffkurashige. I'd say there's a pretty good bet he might speak Japanese.
As I stated above, the translation was posted the day before the game. I can't imagine someone would fake a translation of an article 24 hours before a game because they feared Dice-K would have a bad outing tomorrow.

Look, I want him to suck as much as the next guy and I'm happy the narrative is, "he's human". It should give young players some confidence against him. I don't particularly appreciate Melvin Mora saying, "He's from another planet" to anyone who will listen to him.

But all that said, the guy said in advance he was experimenting, and I think it bears mention.

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

F All That

The guy got rocked. No apologizing today for the crappy job you do tomorrow. And no posers pretending to be Japanese divining the mind of an overpriced Sumo-sized hype machine. Knott rocks. O's rule. Case closed.

by Jonnypops on Mar 12, 2007 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Jonnypops speaks the truth

"I don't want any credit. I'm not looking for credit. You know what? I don't want any blame if we're horse shit, either." -- Jim Leyland

by Scott Christ on Mar 12, 2007 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Blog War

Looks like my trash talking above has caused quite a ruckus over at OTM...who are so unconcerned about their Japanese acquistions recent failure that their moderator saw fit to patrol our blog like the New England Precinct of the Thought Police. Here's what they came with in response. I've already put in my two cents...and expect to be depositing at least $1.05 in the next 24 hours. Any of you who are hot to wave the flag, come on board! It'll help release some of that Spring Training anxiety at the very least.

by Jonnypops on Mar 12, 2007 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

re:

Let them come here and be outraged.

I'm laughing that the tongue-in-cheek bostondirtdogs comment struck a nerve. Of course I said it to strike a nerve. Seems like I hit closer to home than expected. Double score for a three point landing!

by drj on Mar 12, 2007 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

OTM

As far as the authenticity of the translation, I'll take the dude's word for it. As far as, "Homeboy got lit up, deal with it," well, it's just harmless trash talking... for a spring training game no less. This is an O's blog, guess what, trash talking happens when the home team does well. At least Johnny didn't go over to OTM and rub it in their face (which is bit too far for my tastes but whatever). That said, the RS are a awfully good team... what goes around, comes around JP.

"No apologies will be forthcoming. Not now, not ever."

Dude, this quote absolutely cracked me up. Good stuff man. JP for camdenchat poet laureate.

Big Bird says, "Get Pat the Bat!"

by birdman on Mar 12, 2007 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions

"What goes around...

...comes around"

This is what people were telling me last year. The year when Josh Beckett was their Ace du Jour. The year when they bombed the hell out and finished in third place. I'll take my chances.

by Jonnypops on Mar 12, 2007 6:33 PM EDT up reply actions

RE:

That said, the RS are a awfully good team...

I don't get why everyone is so high on the Red Sox this year; they have a ton of question marks on that team. Outside of Wakefield, their rotation is full of question marks. Their bullpen is up in the air and looks to be in trouble with Piniero bombing. And their offense is hardly as intimidating as it was in the past.

I really don't see them being an awfully good team, but I guess time will tell.

momma take a look now at what your boy has done; he's walking around like he's number one; he went downtown and bought him a gun.

by BirdFanInPhilly on Mar 12, 2007 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions

RS

"I don't get why everyone is so high on the Red Sox this year; they have a ton of question marks on that team."

Sure but every team has question marks. What matter is how you stack up against your division. In any case, fuck the RS.

Big Bird says, "Get Pat the Bat!"

by birdman on Mar 12, 2007 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions

RE:

Yes, of course every team has question marks, but not to the extent of the RS. Their rotation is made up of a 41 year old pitcher who's been hurt 2 of the last 4 years and has diminishing stats, an extremely injury prone pitcher coming off the worst season of his career, a guy who has never thrown a ML pitch, a guy with 3 career starts, and Wakefield.

They don't have a closer and the rest of the pen is shaky at best.

Varitek has shown just about every sign that he's done, had a ridiculous OBP, SLG, AVG and I think I may even have a shot at taking a base from him. Drew has been hurt every other year. Crisp has been bad in CF whenever he's played there. Pedroria is a rookie that didn't show much of anything in his previous ML stints.

Most teams do not have question marks like the Red Sox, at least I don't see other teams with those sort of question marks. If a bunch of things go the Sox's way, they'll be an awfully good team, but chances are many of those question marks will not work out.

I agree with your most important point though, fuck the RS.

momma take a look now at what your boy has done; he's walking around like he's number one; he went downtown and bought him a gun.

by BirdFanInPhilly on Mar 12, 2007 9:55 PM EDT up reply actions

careful....

JP for camdenchat poet laureate

I said that about LB3 a year ago, and look what happened.

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 7:13 PM EDT up reply actions

OTM

"I said that about LB3 a year ago, and look what happened."

What the happened to LB3?

As far as JP's comments go, I'm surprised that people were so bent out of shape over them (e.g. "Damn Oriole fans putting me in a bad mood."). It's spring training. JP talked some smack Dice-K. Is this something to really get pissed about?

Big Bird says, "Get Pat the Bat!"

by birdman on Mar 12, 2007 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Apparently so

Especially if you've invested $100M in the guy's arm. Some people are so touchy! :)

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Their red sox fans

What were you expecting? Even when their winning, everything is torment in their world.

Are you tired of watching porn all day? Neither am I! - T-Bones

by O face on Mar 13, 2007 8:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Boston

Every sports fan here is never happy with anything. There is always a huge problem.

by exitfare on Mar 13, 2007 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

It seems that way.

And they're coming off a glory period for New England sports. It's kinda sad really.

by Jonnypops on Mar 13, 2007 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

well, I've weighed in

They somehow made the mistake of championing me as the reasonable one over here. I think I disabused them of that notion.

Regardless of what Slice-J or whatever intended for that game, I've got CC's back when it comes to competing SN blogs calling us out.

Can we call a meeting of the subcommittee?

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Vote!

Keep littering their dice-k pole with 5-9 wins. That'll get em' thinking....well maybe.

Are you tired of watching porn all day? Neither am I! - T-Bones

by O face on Mar 13, 2007 8:21 AM EDT up reply actions

hahah

I was hoping I could write in something to the effect of "Why is there no option for 0-4 wins?"

by exitfare on Mar 13, 2007 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions

re:

Forget "Over The Monster". If you want a dead on read of the Red Sox fans visit bostondirtdogs.com. Their level headed commentary eerily mirrors the fan sentiment.

As for Trachsel, I think he's going to be giving us indigestion. Even if Bedard, Cabrera, AND Loewen somehow magically all pitch nearly as expected (or hoped) rounding out the rotation with Trachsel and Wright is less than inspiring. It won't surprise me if we see Penn rushed up once again after Trachsel goes Russ Ortiz on the O's.

by drj on Mar 12, 2007 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions

probably...

but having one trachsel is a lot better than having lopez, chen & ortiz along w/ the evil cabrera.

it seems improbable to me that the rotation as currently configured could not be a pretty serious improvement over last year's.

any word on chen's spring performance? i had heard he was pitching really well in winter ball.

by jq higgins on Mar 12, 2007 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions

re:

I'm with you. No Lopez, Chen, Ortiz (and we can't forget Brower) is an improvement.

It's just whenever I feel a smidgeon of optimism, it's tempered by realizing the O's have Trachsel and Wright lurking around.

See here for Bruce's ST stats.

2 G, 5 IP 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 1 SO

That's a 1.2 WHIP, which is a quite a bit better than the 1.74 WHIP he registered last year. Let's see if it lasts beyond 5 innings.

by drj on Mar 12, 2007 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions

glad to see chen bouncing back.

he's a good guy.

Compare his ST stats to those of our dear, departed, Roddy Lopez:

ERA G IP H R ER HR BB SO 11.57 2 7.0 13 10 9 3 3 6

9 earned runs in 7 innings? Yeeeee-haw!

Roddy was quoted as saying, "I did my job. I kept my team in the game.*

Oh, and his batterymate Javy Lopez was released today as well.

*Okay, Roddy didn't really say that.

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Aww

Let's not trumpet Javy getting dropped the way we trumpet Roddy getting bombed. I'm glad to see Roddy's career go down the shitter for the way he conducted himself here. But Javy just got old, and I really think he made the best of a hard situation last season before he was traded. His complaints were fairly muted and reasonable.

by punkrawka on Mar 12, 2007 8:05 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah, well, kinda

first of all, I wasn't really trumpeting his release, or at least, I doidn't mean to. I just thought it was noteworthy.

second of all, Javy eventually made the best of the situation, but before that there was a period of "I play catcher too much"; "I don't play enough"; "I don't want to play first base."; "Why didn't I get more of a shot at first base?". He kind of said a lot of different things that weren't exactly consistent.

by zknower on Mar 12, 2007 8:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Somebody call a wahhhhhhhhhmbulance

Posting up here because the rest of this thread has nothing to do with Matsuzaka

From the Boston Globe, via SI.com:

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been expressing concern to Japanese reporters about the high mound in the bullpen at City of Palms Park.

Oh, that's it. The mound is too high. That's the problem! That's why he's giving up gopherballs to scrubs!

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

by zknower on Mar 13, 2007 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions

down with trachsel

up with guthrie

"Hi, I'm Earl Weaver"- Earl Weaver

by erudite @ Camden Chat on Mar 12, 2007 10:30 AM EDT reply actions

For reals.

G's up...Trax down. Guthrie learning to swim is better than Trax making us driz-own.

by Jonnypops on Mar 12, 2007 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions

re:

Didn't the O's say they didn't expect Guthrie to clear waivers if he doesn't make the roster? He is out of options.

I don't see anything in his past that makes him a fourth or fifth starter. He's as much, maybe more, of a crap shoot as Trachsel.

by drj on Mar 12, 2007 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Trachsel

has proven that he sucks. Guthrie has yet to and he's young. I think both Trachsel and Guthrie should be on the 25 Man Roster as a Plan B for one another. But I'd much rather have a 5th starter that we're trying to develop into something like Guthrie (assuming he doesn't start putting up Russ Ortiz numbers) than some never-was like Trax.

by Jonnypops on Mar 12, 2007 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Guthrie

"Didn't the O's say they didn't expect Guthrie to clear waivers if he doesn't make the roster?"

Yup. I thought I remember reading in the Sun that Guthrie was one of four relievers (Williamson, Bell, the Todd) fighting for two spots assuming that Sammy doesn't want to carry another left hander like Parrish or Birkins. I hope Guthrie makes the opening day roster. He has some upside unlike the other three.

Big Bird says, "Get Pat the Bat!"

by birdman on Mar 12, 2007 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

bullpen

I just read today's Sun. I wasn't quite right. It's between Todd Williams, Jeremy Guthrie and Rob Bell for the two available openings assuming Sammy doesn't want another lefty.

Big Bird says, "Get Pat the Bat!"

by birdman on Mar 12, 2007 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

re:

yeah, williamson has a guaranteed contract, so they wouldn't cut him (at least not right away. if he turns out like jim brower i guess they'll cut him eventually and bring john parrish or someone up).

by pipkin on Mar 12, 2007 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Guthrie won't clear waivers

but he means more to us because Mazzone has made a career out of putting guys like this back together.

"Hi, I'm Earl Weaver"- Earl Weaver

by erudite @ Camden Chat on Mar 12, 2007 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Nice

I can have a shit-eating grin on my face for one that work, as two of my co-workers are Red Sox fans.

by exitfare on Mar 12, 2007 10:51 AM EDT reply actions

It is just spring training

While seeing him getting shelled does make me smile, but he's probably just going through some of the motions of what his coaches are telling him.
Although I am eager to see the season start and see he get lit up for real. I wonder what the over/under for his start against the yankee line-up would be.......

Are you tired of watching porn all day? Neither am I! - T-Bones

by O face on Mar 12, 2007 1:24 PM EDT reply actions

re:

A good stupid war with OTM. I won't banter on their site. Next time someone should point out to the BoSox fans that they haven't won a division since '95 . Backing into the playoffs year after year is the (ahem) sissy's way. Unlike the O's of my youth, who actually WON divisions with some regularity against the hated Yankees. Now they just suck. Not much I can do about that.

The irony is that the Red Sox fans now root for the equivalent of the Yankees.

by drj on Mar 13, 2007 12:18 PM EDT reply actions