Daisuke Matsuzaka debuts tonight

[Jimcs50]

This is the most anticipated debut in MLB since Ichiro's debut with Seattle. I can not wait to see this guys stuff. In Spring training he had 6-7 diffent pitches and I am sure that he saved some new ones for the real season...


:elephant

[TheTruth]

Overhyped foreigner forum

[Melmart1]

Tonight? Ummm, you mean RIGHT NOW, right? It's already the fourth inning at 2:20pm.

[tlongII]

I hope he gets shelled!

[degenerate_gambler]

so far...

4 innings, one hit, 5 k's.

[Melmart1]

He had retired 10 in a row before the single he just gave up in the 5th. He looks very sharp and not at all bothered by the media scrutiny.

[Kevin Blackistone]

Why does everyone in the media pronounce his name "dice-k"?

[degenerate_gambler]

Why does everyone in the media pronounce his name "dice-k"?


that's his nickname.

[Kevin Blackistone]

that's his nickname.

really? I guess I hadn't made that connection. Figured it wasn't too hard to say dai-su-ke. Thanks

[mardigan]

10 k's, 1 walk, 1 er in 7 innings, pretty good first game

[Melmart1]

Actually, it's pronounced like "dice-k"... that's not his nickname, that's his actual name.

[TheTruth]

Overhyped foreigner forum
Foot in mouth Forum.


That dude is for real.

[degenerate_gambler]

That dude is for real.


as a Yankee fan, I grudgingly have to concur with you, sir.

[Tippecanoe]

im impressed

but this is the kansas city royals he pitched against

[Melmart1]

10 K's in 7 innigns is impressive, no matter what lineup you are up against.

[TheTruth]

im impressed

but this is the kansas city royals he pitched against
He was dealing absolute filth.

[dallaskd]

Boston will get smashed vs texas tommorow.

[KEDA]

that guy is sick!!!

[dg7md]

Boston will get smashed vs texas tommorow.

:lol

[dallaskd]

:lol

:lol

[dg7md]

:lol

Way to mimmick me. I'm a Rangers fan too but to think they're going to do anything worthwhile this year is ridiculous.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

He was filthy, but batters will catch up the 2nd time around.

[mardigan]

He was filthy, but batters will catch up the 2nd time around.
Its hard to catch up to 6 pitches if he is on

[Jimcs50]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- After striking out three times, Ryan Shealy sounded amazed.

"I didn't know he threw that hard," he said.

Dice-K was more than OK in his major league debut.

With millions of early rising viewers keeping track on Japanese television, Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out 10 in seven innings in his major league debut Thursday to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Kansas City Royals 4-1.

"I can't say that my overall condition was that great today, but I think the role of a starting pitcher is to set up the game and give my teammates the opportunity to win," he said through an interpreter. "I feel like I was able to do that today, so I was satisfied."

On a cold, blustery afternoon, Matsuzaka (1-0) allowed six hits, including a sixth-inning homer by David DeJesus, and walked one. He looked every bit the ace Boston committed $103 million to.

"Any time you have that good of a fastball and the offspeed to go with it, it's tough," Shealy said. "He mixes up speed on his pitches and moves it in and out. You can't really get comfortable with him."

His fastball clocked at 95 mph and his famed array of fastballs, changeups and breaking pitches at times was dazzling. Flashing a reddish-orange glove during his slow-motion windup, he retired 10 batters in a row during one stretch starting with the final out of the first inning. He struck out the side in the fourth on 14 pitches.

Red Sox executives have business cards printed in English on one side and Japanese on the other. Restaurants in the Fenway Park area are beginning to offer Japanese dishes and more than 100 Japanese media have been chronicling his every step. About 200 media were on hand to chronicle his every move.

"Up to now, given all the expectations that have surrounded me, I've felt happy about those expectations," he said. "But at the same time feeling like perhaps they were a little bit extreme. But speaking for myself and for all the fans that have supported me here, it's great that I was able to come out here and record a victory in my first start."

In addition to his pitching, Matsuzaka proved himself a skillful fielder, pouncing off the mound three times to field weak grounders.

"He's got a bunch of plus-pitches," Shealy said. "A lot of guys have a good fastball or have good offspeed stuff, but he seems to have both."

Kansas City manager Buddy Bell strained to think of a pitcher to compare him with.

"I will tell you this -- I was pretty impressed," Bell said. "He just really had a feel for what he was doing. Everything he did was absolutely solid. Everything that he tried to do."

Matsuzaka left the Seibu Lions to sign a $52 million, six-year contract with the Red Sox, who bid $51,111,111 for his rights.

The crowd of 23,170, bundled on a 36-degree day, booed Matsuzaka in the first when he stepped behind the mound and started doing half jumping-jacks, snapping his heals together in the air.

He gave up a single to DeJesus on his third pitch. He walked Mark Teahen with one out, then got Emil Brown to ground into a double play, but then didn't allow another runner until Alex Gordon singled leading off the fifth.

DeJesus homered on Matsuzaka's second pitch of the sixth. Estaben German followed with a single, and Matsuzaka's shoulders seemed to droop, and pitching coach John Farrell visited the mound. German was caught stealing as Teahen took a called third strike, Brown doubled off the left-field wall, but Gordon took a called third strike, the first of three straight strikeouts.

"Major league hitters, after you go through the order once or twice, get a bead on you, and he didn't let them," Boston manager Terry Francona said. He started throwing different pitches on different counts. He came back in the sixth and seventh and was good as he was early."

DeJesus joked about the famed "gyroball," a pitch Dice-K may or may not throw.

"I think it was the gyroball," he laughed when asked what he hit for the home run. "No, it was a fastball. I didn't think it was going to go, but the ball kept carrying."

Matsuzaka, who wasn't satisfied with his spring-training performances, threw 74 of 108 pitches for strikes. The 26-year-old right-hander, 108-60 with a 2.95 ERA and 1,355 strikeouts for Seibu, did not have to face two of Kansas City's top hitters: Mike Sweeney and Mark Grudzielanek were given the day off following a night game.

J.C. Romero and Jonathan Papelbon finished, with Papelbon striking out two of three batters for his first save.

Zack Greinke (0-1), who missed almost all of last season due to social anxiety disorder, struck out seven in seven innings, allowing two runs and eight hits.

Manny Ramirez had an RBI double in the first, and Julio Lugo doubled in the fifth, stole third and scored on catcher John Buck's throwing error.

Boston added two runs in the eighth on Joel Peralta's wild pitch with a runner on third and Coco Crisp's RBI single, his first hit in 10 at-bats this season.

Game notes
Gordon, the Royals' top prospect, had been 0-for-8 until he singled leading off the fifth. He also let a grounder get under his glove at third for an error. ... The media contingent was the biggest the Royals saw at home since the seventh game of the 1985 World Series.

[Jimcs50]

Overhyped foreigner forum


:lol

[tlongII]

:lol

bandwagon fan

[Melmart1]

I am not a bandwagon fan, I have always been a Rangers fan but always had the Red Sox as my 'other team' cus if you are a Rangers fan, you always have to have someone ELSE to cheer for come October.

Matsuzaka is the real deal. Yes, once a batter sees him they may do better but it won't be enough. This guy is Ace material after this year.

[v2freak]

It'll be hard to justify the amount of money the Sox spent on him.

[Kevin Blackistone]

Actually, it's pronounced like "dice-k"... that's not his nickname, that's his actual name.

His name is Daisuke, so in Japanese it is pronounced "Die-su-ke", not "Dice-ke". You can't skip the "u" sound in his name. It's just like the American media is with Spanish names - they fuck those up all the time too.

[SRJ]

His name is Daisuke, so in Japanese it is pronounced "Die-su-ke", not "Dice-ke". You can't skip the "u" sound in his name. It's just like the American media is with Spanish names - they fuck those up all the time too.

Good point. Foreign broadcasters nail English names.

:rolleyes


EDIT: I have to use the other proposed sarcasm method in case this one goes misunderstood.

Good point. Foreign broadcasters nail English names.

[Tippecanoe]

His name is Daisuke, so in Japanese it is pronounced "Die-su-ke", not "Dice-ke". You can't skip the "u" sound in his name. It's just like the American media is with Spanish names - they fuck those up all the time too.

Actually no. his name is pronounced dice-k japanese or english or any other language. dont be fooled by the spelling

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

I am not a bandwagon fan, I have always been a Rangers fan but always had the Red Sox as my 'other team' cus if you are a Rangers fan, you always have to have someone ELSE to cheer for come October.

Matsuzaka is the real deal. Yes, once a batter sees him they may do better but it won't be enough. This guy is Ace material after this year.


Ishii and Nomo had similar stat lines in their 1st ML starts.

Ishii pitched 6 2/3, gave up 2 hits and 0 ERs while striking out 10. Nomo pitched 5 innings, gave up 1 hit and 0 ERs while striking out 7.

Way too early to even consider him ace material.

[Melmart1]

I don't agree. He was lights-out in the World Baseball Classic against some very good teams and a ton of MLB players from different teams around the world. In fact, he was named the MVP of the entire tourney. He will have rough spots like any rookie but I still maintain that he will be Ace material in about a year's time.

[SRJ]

I actually agree with both of you. Daisuke does have great stuff, he looks like he could be a staff ace, and he's been top notch against MLB batters to date, but one official MLB regular season start is too early to say he's definitely an ace.

Would anyone else like a waffle?

[tlongII]

He's the real deal. I saw enough of him during the WBC to realize that.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

I don't agree. He was lights-out in the World Baseball Classic against some very good teams and a ton of MLB players from different teams around the world. In fact, he was named the MVP of the entire tourney. He will have rough spots like any rookie but I still maintain that he will be Ace material in about a year's time.

The WBC? He pitched all of 13 innings in 3 starts. Batters only faced him twice per start. Hell, even the KC farm team started to get better ABs/swings the third time through.

And he wasn't the only Japanese pitcher who dominated in the WBC. Uehara and Watanabe were lights out as well, with both posting ERAs under 2 (1.59 and 1.98 respectively) and WHIPs south of 1.

What does it all mean? Nothing relative to the MLs, IMO.

Just that it's early...

[Kevin Blackistone]

Actually no. his name is pronounced dice-k japanese or english or any other language. dont be fooled by the spelling

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I've never known anyone with that name, but the Japanese people with similar names I encountered while on travel all pronounced their names the way I said it. They tended to talk very fast, which can make some believe they skipped some consonants and vowels here and there. Either way, no big deal.

[Kevin Blackistone]

Boston will get smashed vs texas tommorow.


Nostradamus, is that you?

[Skip Bayless]

Im not convinced, he's probly on roids anyway.

OVER-RATED!!

[Jimcs50]

Ishii and Nomo had similar stat lines in their 1st ML starts.

Ishii pitched 6 2/3, gave up 2 hits and 0 ERs while striking out 10. Nomo pitched 5 innings, gave up 1 hit and 0 ERs while striking out 7.

Way too early to even consider him ace material.

Those 2 pitchers did not have 1/100th the publicity and hype going into their debut start that Daisuke has put upon him. He pitched in cold weather on the road against a team that hammered their ace 2 nights earlier, with the whole world watching.....he delivered in spades.

[T Park]

He pitched in cold weather on the road against a team that hammered their ace 2 nights earlier

Its the friggen Royals.

That doesn't say much for Schilling.

[Melmart1]

Schilling is a winner, he has nothing to prove. It was one start, judging people on one start is dumb.

[T Park]

Agreed.

Was wondering if Jim would go haywire redsox homer though :lol

[BUMP]

He pitched in cold weather on the road

cold weather helps out the pitchers much more than warm weather, nice try. even though its a little uncomfortable :cry

the road, might as well have been a neutral site. its the Royals :rolleyes

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Rookie Alex Gordon who said "He doesn't have anything I had never seen before, he has one pitch that drops".

Ouch. Pretty ballsy when you've only played in a handful of MLB games.

I'm secretly hoping the guy flames out. It's just something I do when someone is overhyped and I have to see them on TV almost every day. Playing for Boston also helps...