Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Wow. That was something to see.
Now, don't get me wrong, I was prepared for the Matsuzaka Madness. They do have TVs out there in Michigan, after all. And computers. And newspapers. And anyone with access to one or more of these things is probably aware of Matsuzaka Madness to some degree, regardless of where they are.
But I was still, as I made my way into Fenway for my first Sox game of the year, a bit taken aback by the length, breadth, and depth of the insanity. I suppose that's not what's so surprising; it's how something this massive has taken hold in so short a period of time. Dude just got here! Yet there are signs and billboards in Japanese welcoming you to Fenway, the scorecard I bought outside the park came with a "Welcome to Boston Daisuke Matsuzaka-san" headband, there were kids everywhere with "Dice-K" tshirts and people with Dice-K signs and jerseys with Japanese on the back (which is interesting, because I think the Japan League uniforms, for whatever deranged reason, use English). All this for a guy who's barely been in the country two months. We don't mess around with our baseball crazy in Boston.
The one thing I was looking for that I did NOT see was someone with a Matsuzaka Seibu Lions jersey. I did see some guy in an Expos Pedro jersey, which was impressive, but nobody seems to have dipped into the Dice-K past just yet.
Insanity or not, I then got to see the kid pitch.
Early on it looked like the Tigers might have a chance. The swings they were taking weren't bad, and although Nate was struggling to hold onto batters, he seemed to be more or less up to the task. The thing is, while Nate tired and had to be removed in favor of Tim "I just got here I don't even know if I have the right uniform on ahhhh where are my shoes ahhhhhh" Byrdak and Bobby "O" Seay "can you see how bad my pitching is", Matsuzaka actually.... seemed to get.... stronger.
I noticed it in the 6th inning, when the Tigers started taking cuts so hard they were spun around at the plate. Yeah, Sheffield was one of them, and that's how Sheffield swings, but it was happening to other, less jerkasaur-bat Tigers too. I'm talkin' huge swings, the kind of swing a guy takes when he's SO SURE he has a bead on the ball... only they didn't, and the bafflement upon their faces was extreme. It's like he started REALLY moving the ball around later in the game. "Oh hi, yeah, those first 5 innings were just warmups! NOW YOU SUFFER."
Matsuzaka is not a particularly imposing figure out there on the mound. He's not some giant elongated freak like Randy Johnson and he's not some enormous mountain of a man like Roger Clemens or CC Sabathia. He doesn't seem like he's going to leap off the mound and eat your liver at any moment like Carlos Zambrano. He doesn't even have the same feel as a small guy with a huge mound presence, like a Pedro or a Tim Hudson. He reminds me most (in mound presence, not necessarily pitching style) of Johan Santana.
You see him (Santana or Matsuzaka) on the mound and you think, "Huh. Not as big as I expected. Kinda sweet-looking. Kinda quiet-looking." Then they start pitching and you think, "Well, that's not too overpowering. Maybe this won't be so bad." Then they continue pitching and eventually you realize, "Wow, we're getting our kidneys carved right the heck up." It's a little scary and a lot disconcerting.
Anyways. I obviously took a great many more photos than just the one heading up this post, but I'm still processing them. I'll link you when I'm done.
For the Tigers side of my brain and its view on this one, you can check out my Roar of the Tigers post about it.
For the foreign angle, you can see Iain's post about it, since he's in town and is getting to see all these insanely good games. Obviously the Red Sox love him. For MOAR MOAR MOAR, you can see Jere's post, since we ran into him pre-game and he has a photo of us obsessing over Tigers BP in his post (or, OK, in his shot I'm obsessing over the Tigers while Beth and Iain taunt me about Brandon Inge).
Oh, and Ian of Bless You Boys has an "interview" with me up 'cause he likes getting other blogger opinions. I opine about the Red Sox and swear a lot. It's ace.Labels: Daisuke Matsuzaka, in attendance, Red Sox, Tigers
12:29 PM
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
If you're really, REALLY confused, the answer's in the file name...Labels: Daisuke Matsuzaka, drawn
1:01 AM
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Is there anyone who cares at all about the Red Sox and ISN'T talking about Matsuzaka?
The insanity involved in this is pure, utter Bostonishness. There are other cities that are obsessed with baseball, of course, but the Bostonian brand of obsession is a distinct and particular one. It's an obsession that does not keep baseball in its own little niche, but spills it out into all walks of life, as if Boston Baseball is some kind of molasses that you're trying to hold in your hands.
It's not just the baseball that's interesting, but everything surrounding the baseball. What does Matsuzaka look like? What does he sound like? What kind of smile does he have? What kind of glove is he using? How does he wear his hat? How well does he seem on a completely superficial level to be interacting with Varitek? Is he getting along with Okajima? What happens when he meets Manny and Ortiz? Will it be easier for him to stand Schilling for long periods of time because he won't always know what he's being lectured about?
What does the media covering this dude look like? There are teams of photographers whose job seems to be to shoot the Japanese photographers, who are there to shoot Matsuzaka. That's how freakin' meta we've gotten.
And it's not just one slightly creepy and obsessive web entity (exhibit A) chronicling his every move. It's EVERYONE, from the newspapers to the TV stations to the radio shows to the bloggers to the AP photographers. And of course that's not even getting into the constant critical inspection he's undergoing at practice every day from his coaches and teammates. This level of scrunity is not unlike that under which the President of the United States operates. It should be enough to drive most people, even "celebrities", batshit insane.
Here's the thing with Matsuzaka, though. He's from Japan. He's been a huge pitcher in Japan for a long time now, ever since he was in high school. And if there's one international baseball media market that could compare to Boston for sheer relentless obsession, it's Japan.
In a way, Matsuzaka is perfectly primed for Boston, and Boston is perfectly suited to him. He should be used to the kind of insanity that we can dish up, because he was followed so closely even before this*. And I think the language barrier may actually work in his favor a little bit; he's not going to be getting himself upset listening to the wacknuts on WEEI after a bad game. He's accustomed to the scrutiny and simultaneously more able to readily ignore it than, say, ARod (or, to be fair, Schilling).
The Japanese media, who will be probably be entrenched for the season and the long run, get a city that is less bemused by their persistence and more understanding. Boston as a collective whole doesn't really have to wonder when we see a vast horde of Japanese media sorts tailing hopefully behind Matsuzaka as he goes about his day; we can recognize a little bit of ourselves in that horde.
*Of course this assumes that Matsuzaka had learned to handle the media gracefully back home and is past the point where such intense regard could ruffle his feathers. I think he has, or he probably wouldn't have been as good a pitcher as he is, but if he hasn't, eh, you can disregard this post.Labels: baseball, Daisuke Matsuzaka, frenzy, Japan, media, MLB, obsession, Red Sox
1:10 PM
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Red Sox/Boras evening face-down ended before midnight? Lame, everyone involved. If I'm still awake, you bloody well can be too. I wanted this to turn into a grueling all-nighter, with Boras and Theo having a caffeine-fueled staring contest at 4 am while Matsuzaka looked on in complete and utter confusion. I wanted sportswriters uploading hallucinatory notes to their online papers as the night wears on into day.
Basically, this is the final crunch for the Sox to try and get this business settled. It is time for FINALS. I am also in the midst of FINALS. I get about THREE HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT. I expect a deal of this importance to require the same rules of engagement that college finals do.
Anyhow, I bet it was Boras who sent everyone home for the evening. Theo's young enough to still have his nocturnal collegiate powers flowin', and goodness knows Lucchino's got enough belligerent energy to keep him up.
Also, I know we're in the midst of a very expertly waged media war between Boras and the Sox right now, but if this deal fails to get done, I am ready and willing to blame the majority of it on the Bore. Have I taken the Sox media lure? Probably. But if Boras has failed to communicate his personal propaganda as effectively as the Sox have, that's also a failing of his, and one that his clients shouldn't be too pleased about seeing. Either way, Sox good, Scott Boras VURY BAD MAN.
Now if you'll pardon me, I have some more work to do, because SOME of us can't afford to call it a night just yet.Labels: baseball, Daisuke Matsuzaka, MLB, offseason, Red Sox, Scott Boras, Theo Epstein
1:35 AM
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Every day I check the latest baseball news. Every day it's the same question. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? ARE WE THERE YET MUMMY I WANTS MY MATSUZAKA NOOOOOWWWW.
And every bloody day, the answer is the same. NO. WE'LL GET THERE WHEN WE GET THERE. BE QUIET OR NO MATSUZAKA FOR YOU.
When I was a little kid and my family would take long road trips (before the days of iPods, GASP), I would have to amuse myself to keep from being driven insane. I can't read in the car without getting sick, so I would draw (if the road was smooth enough), or play those games where you look for things out the window and try to find more of them before your stinky little brother does (look, a cow! look, a dead raccoon! look, a highway sign with an exploded truck on it!) or where you tally up the colors of cars you pass. Eventually we would get wherever it was that we were going, and I would have a newly intimate knowledge of the denizens of the highway.
That's what's going on with this Matsuzaka business right now. We're stuck on this highway, and Mummy LuchWerNry and Poppy Boras are not going to take any shortcuts to suit us kids.* So we've got to stare out the window and pretend we give a flying squirrel carcass about all the stuff on the side of the road. Look, a new Dodger uniform! Look, another Manny trade request! Look, more Japanese postings! Look, a surly San Franciscan man with a giant head!
I'm glad we won (paid for) the rights to negotiate with the kid. The odds are good for him being a pretty effective pitcher, and this past season taught us once and for all that you can NEVER have too much pitching. Plus it made the Yankees look bad. But can you imagine how BAD we would look if we were willing to shell out all that posting money, and failed to get a deal done? Can you imagine the gleeful cackling in the Bronx? Can you imagine how many death threats Scott Boras would get from the New England area?
I just want to get out of the car already.
In other news, the Detroit Lions are bad, and steadily getting worse. But I watched them play on Thanksgiving! We got Rally Tails! Joey Harrington returned! Photos! Other than that, I don't want to talk about them any more than I want to talk about all the Manny shit, and I want to talk about all the Manny shit not at all.
edit: Joy of Sox is up for a 2006 Canadian Blog Award. Because the idea of a Red Sox blog winning a 'best of sports blogs' award in Canada tickles my deranged fancy, I suggest you all go vote for him (section 13). And, you know, there's the small matter of JoS being an extremely deserving blog for any award. Voting ends tomorrow. Go and see to it that justice is done!
(thanks to Jere for the heads-up)
*Honestly, I think I just severely freaked myself out by taking a moment to consider a conglomerate being made up of Lucchino, Werner, and Henry, what it would be if it was female, and then what it would be if it married Scott Boras and had a bunch of Red Sox fans as children. These are places I never wanted my brain to go.Labels: baseball, Daisuke Matsuzaka, MLB, negotiation, offseason, Red Sox
10:11 AM
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