So far so good for Matsuzaka
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 05, 2007 
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He did manage to shut down the formidable Kansas City Royals lineup.
One start against a AAA team. Let’s not get too carried away.
I know ESPN will have him in the Hall of Fame after this start but, there is a long way to go.
This time last year, Josh Beckett was going to win the Cy Young Award by the same folks who relentlessly hype Dice-k.
Let’s see what happens as the season progresses.
No doubt he pitched well today. But, let’s remember the opponent…..no exactly a big test.
There goes Peter once again alienating the fanbase…
Frankly, I am floored that there was no A-Rod reference in that post.
Gasp!
He allowed only one run on six hits….. against the Royals???
Gee, give him the Cy Young right now.
D. Matsuzaka
IP – H – R – ER BB – K – HR ERA
7.0 – 6 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 10 – 1 – 1.29
Z. Greinke
IP – H – R – ER BB K HR ERA
7.0- 8 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 7 – 0 1.29
Take into consideration on the lineups they faced. Greinke’s line is more impressive to me.
I bet some of you are willing to pencil him in for 2nd on the Cy Young behind DoorMat. I can’t believe the amount of drool I have seen on this website for DoorMat. Yes he pitched good. But look at the breakdown first two times threw 1 hit. 3rd 5 hits. And oh yeah it IS the Royals. Say what you want about them still being MLBers but I personally am not putting DoorMat in as CY Young over a one game sample vs a horrible team.
He pitched very well against an inferior opponent. Grienke was really impressive.
Agree with SJ44. My 83 year old father could look like the real deal against a team like the Royals. Let’s see how Dice-K looks against a team that can actually hit the ball.
BTW, the last two Sox pitching performances (Beckett and Dice-K) sure make Schilling’s start on Monday look especially bad, don’t they? They need both him and Wakefield to pitch well, or their rotation is a shambles.
He is good , But not worth for 51 ml
we have Wang only 1/2 ml is better than him
I hope they keep letting him throw 107 pitches an outing. No way he will survive those type of pitch counts with a 5 man rotation. I read today that he was already feeling tired turning spring traing.
“There goes Peter once again alienating the fanbase…
Frankly, I am floored that there was no A-Rod reference in that post.”
LMAO……..Are you serious?
are you like 12, Dice-k performance is relevant to Yankee fans and Pete is reporting it.
Wang better than Dice-K?!?! lol
I’d love to see a Wang vs Dice-K game and see what transpires.
let him face a team above aaa first.
51mil is nothing for a 6yr deal for a pitcher. I am a huge Yankee fan but there is no reason to think that D-Mat is not going to be a very very good pitcher. He has incredible make up, good location, and good stuff. Just b/c your a Yankee fan does not mean that he isn’t a good pitcher. Pedro was one of the best pitchers of the last decade when he was a Red Sox and it did not prevent the Yankee’s from winning the division. He may not end up being good but from everything I have seen of him, he is going to be good. Isn’t more fun when the Sox are good and the Yanks still beat up on them? Lets hope he wins 20 and goes 0-6 against the Yanks! He beat the team in front of him today, what else could he do?
Schilling is 2-5 with a 6 ERA over his last 7 starts, dating back to last year.
If he is slipping, they will need Beckett and Dice-k to be great or they are hurting.
No team has ever won with 2 40 year olds in the starting rotation. The Sox have Schilling and Wakefield in their rotation and if they aren’t as good as they were, it puts a lot of pressure on Dice-k and Beckett. No margin of error for either guy if Schilling isn’t the horse he once was, and Wakefield’s back can no longer hold up over the course of a long season.
Can’t face the Royals every day.
The Sox have their season in the hands of their starting rotation. They need the rotation to be very good. If it isn’t, their bullpen holes will show and they will have a hard time making the playoffs again this year.
Of course, the Yankees have their own issues. Most notably, their lack of range and skill defensively.
However, their deep bullpen and their offense will win them a lot of games. If Wang, Pettitte and Moose can be a solid Big 3, the Red Sox starters really need to be great in order to overtake the Yankees, IMO.
Chris,
I don’t know if you were watching, but Greinke allowed leadoff hits in all but one of those innnings. He then proceeded to sit down the next 3 batters in 3 or 4 of those innings. I was really impressed with his composure especially in light of his past “social anxiety disorder”. And his 3 K’s against Ortiz were very satisfying to watch.
Dice-K will have many wins, but they’ll be hollow. I think he’d rather be wearing pinstripes. LOL.
You guys are hilarious. Even against a bad team, a 10-strikeout game is impressive. Was this an outstanding, amazing start? No, not really. He got a break with a bad call by the second base ump (he called a runner out, though replays showed he was safe, and then the next batter hit a double). But still — seven innings, ten strikeouts, only one walk. I’ll take that in a debut any day.
No one is penciling Matsuzaka into the Hall of Fame just yet (like you guys, I want to see him against better competition), but you have to admit it was a nice start.
And I agree: Greinke was very impressive today. If he’s over his issues and has put things together, the Royals might have a legit 1 or 2 starter in him (despite all his losses, he’s still just a kid).
And lets not forget boys and girls, our team went 0-6 against the AAA team in 05 and they are a lot better today then they were then, so just all relax. He’s goin to be good, the Yanks will be good, Wang will be good. Every great player doesn’t have to play for the Yanks and if they don’t play for the Yanks does not mean they suck
How is this alienating the fanbase? Whether Dice-K was the real deal or not is huge for the whole AL East race.
And if he was on the Yanks and had pitched a game like this in his first start, he would be praised to the skies.
This was the most important move of the offseason…not getting Dice-K.
But NY has Igawa just waiting in the wings for a dominating performance!
rainbowtrout:
probably the same thing that happened when Pedro in his prime, which D-Mat likely isn’t, faced the Yankees.
he had some bad luck, and the red sox won about half the games they played when he pitched. Enrique Wilson was about 8/10 against him. If D-Mat ever puts up an ERA+ over 200, I’ll be stunned.
this isn’t football or basketball. fans like you really seem serially incapable of grasping that this is a totally different game.
I guess born and bred on the wit and wisdom of John Kruk will make fans like this.
He should have left down at least 2-1, Umpire blew a call at 2nd that would have scored at least one run. Plus KC defense has been awful. He has yet to face a good AL line-up because he was babyed all spring.
“51mil is nothing for a 6yr deal for a pitcher” So we’re back to pretending that the posting fee doesn’t count?
He looked good. He also looked hitable.
Now, please don’t tell me there is somebody who thinks Dice-k is better than Wang based on his outing against the Royals today?
When Dice-k either wins a Cy Young or finishes second in the voting, then talk about whether or not he is better than Wang.
Right now, he isn’t even in the conversation until he shows it at this level. This isn’t Japanese baseball.
He faced a AAA team today, the equivelent to a Japanese team, and fared very well.
Let’s have more of a sample size before we start declaring him better than any top pitcher, let alone the runner up for the Cy Young.
Leave the over the top hype to ESPN and Red Sox fans. They specialize in it.
If Igawa looks even half that good on Sat. I will be very happy
Matsuzaka is going to be very good – how good over the long haul remains to be seen. But I think people that are rooting for him to fail are going to be disappointed. Unfortunately for Boston, “he’s just one man”, to borrow an old line.
Beckett on the other hand, got incredibly lucky in his start yesterday – even against KC. I can’t wait for our lineup to tee off on him again this year.
Wait a sec, guys…
When the Royals beat up on Schilling, everyone proclaimed that it spelled disaster for Red Sox Nation. Yet when they’re held in check by an obviously talented pitcher, they called a Triple-A team? I hate the Sox too, but give the guy some credit.
I think it’s time I stopped clicking on the Comments sections and just read what Peter reports. Ninety percent of you are off yer rockers. Yeeesh…it’s painful to read.
SJ44: NO ONE said he was better than anyone else, the point people are making is that he is GOOD. I really don’t care if people think he is better than Wang or not and that is not going to be the difference in the division if he does win more games than him. Why can’t people accept that they both are good, they aren’t going to be Santana or Halladay but beyond that the AL is pretty wide open for quality pitchers
Yes, he will be better than Wang. Much better, in fact.
Whether you like it or not, Wang is going to depend on a good deal of luck to have a season like last year. With his alarming lack of strikeouts, he needs balls to constantly be hit right at people.
Wang will be shown to be nothing close to a number one guy. More like a number three starter, imo.
I hope I’m wrong and I’ll be here to either gloat or take my medicine.
“LMAO……..Are you serious?â€?
About the lack of A-Rod reference?
You bet. Peter is obsessed with A-Rod, as many Red Sox fans are. Facts are Fact.”"
Phil all the print media is fascinated by the AROD drama, you dont like it go to Yankees.com the propaganda there will be more to your liking.
rainbowtrout: name 10 pitchers better than him in the AL, I don’t think he is in the Santana/Halladay class but he is certainly in the Lackey/Haren/Harden/Verlander/Sabathia/ Shilling class? Hard to argue he isn’t right up there with those guys
I honestly dont understand the people that get all worked up over what experts/alayst/writers say get a clue man you look like an idiot!
And how many actually watched the game today?
In addition to his ball having incredible movement, Dice-K looks very poised (a problem for Yankee pitchers) and doesn’t look like he’ll have many mental meltdowns (Mussina) or will go in the tank with runners on base (Wang).
Some of the people who come here to comment are dumb as bricks. Yes, it was the Royals. Last time I checked, they are not a AAA team. They play in the tough AL Central division. They are not a good Major League team, but they are still an early test. Don’t hand him the Cy Young, but don’t be so myopic as to miss the fact that he dominated guys in that lineup all afternoon.
Matsuzaka is one of the Top 5 pitchers in the world. He did what he was supposed to do today. If he’d been knocked around a bunch of you would have been quick to pull out the Irabu card, but he was great. At least give him a little credit.
I’ll give him a little credit.
There.
guys, he is legit. let’s not take anything anyway from a 10K performance. i love the yankees, but i think any of our starters wouldn’t necessarily get that in 7 IP… except for P-Hughes.
He looked more than pretty good to me too. Sure, it was the Royals, but isn’t that balanced out by the rather frigid temperatures in KC today amd it being, you know, his first outing in the states? Of course it was one game and sure, we’ll have to see how he’ll handle the adjustments that MLB players make and the rigors of the five day rotation. . . but I didn’t see anything to believe that won’t be less than very good (I’m still not sold on the Top 5 thing yet).
I still like our team better.
Some of you guys are in denial!
If Pavano or Hughes put up those numbers today against the Royals, you’d be jumping up and down with excitement! Make no mistake about it, Dice-K is one talented pitcher – that’s why Cashman was so interested in obtaining him.
I’ve been a Yankee Fan forever, but I’ve never denied individual talent from guys like Clemens, Jim Rice, Yaz, Ted Williams, Wade Boggs, Dick Radatz – just because they wore Red Sox uniforms.
It’ll be an interesting matchup when the Yanks face Dice-K and I’m looking forward to watching it!
Heck, they should put him in the Hall of Fame right now.
he’s a good pitcher. i don’t care who he faced today, he moved the ball around the plate, changed speeds, and made the hitters look uncomfortable. just because he plays for the red sox doesn’t mean the guy doesn’t deserve credit where it’s due. he’s going to be a very, very good pitcher.
hey, pete, after igawa’s first game i hope i’ll see a post with dice-k’s line up against igawa’s for their first starts. then you can tell us all how similar they look.
haha Phil your that tard from that NNYfans homer website? Figures thats the site where you cant talk about the Yankees or you will be banned.
hahah….Phil A is that writer on NYYfans the place where you get banned from there message board if there is any negative talk about the Yankees. FIGURES!
and for anyone chiding pete about a post involving matsuzaka and the red sox, all of this is relevant to the yankees. they’re in the same division, they’re going to be the yankees prime competition for a playoff spot and, last i checked, there’s a little rivalry between the two teams.
it’s also probably worth keeping in mind that pete is from that neck of the woods and is a huge patriots fan. he may cover the yankees, and he may do a pretty good job of masking it, but something tells me mr. abraham grew up pulling for the sox and probably hasn’t stopped. give the guy a break.
i watched a couple innings. the ball did NOT have ‘incredible’ movement. his fb is straight and hovered at 92. he has good control (he can throw all his pitches for strikes), but not great command (he rarely puts the ball exactly where he wants to). that’s his biggest problem (and all the flyballs).
Glad to see we are projecting Matsusakas season from 1 start.
I guess this means it’s going to be a long season for big Schill eh Peter?
I have come to realize that some people are hopeless on this board
I watched D-mat pitch and I was impressed with his velocity and command of the breaking pitches. I also watched the the KC adjustments and they came around after seeing him a couple times. It might not take that long for a veteran ball club like the Yankes. Although for free swinging teams like detroit he may be able to keep them off balance. Its actually fun to watch a pitcher who has command of more than a couple pitches. Even while rooting against him. They were comparing him to Cone. Thats a little early but when you throw your 94mph heater as the 3 or 4th pitch in the count hmmm.
Nice to see a class poster Mike Plugh joining in here and setting some people straight.
Certainly beats the clowns who somehow think I’m ripping A-Rod when I don’t even mention his name.
Kasey:You should know better than to make that remark. Because I root for the Patriots that means I root for the Red Sox? Give me a break. As I have tried to explain many times (fruitlessly, it seems) I root for good stories and have since I started doing this for a living with I was 17.
I also root for people I have met along the way who went out of their way to be respectful and helpful to me. That list includes Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, Tony Clark, Joe McEwing, Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Lowell, Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, Trey Hillman, Ben Gordon, etc.
In my business, you root for people you’ve gotten to know, not teams. Teams are meaningless to me. It’s just laundry. It’s the people inside the uniforms who make the stories.
Matsuzaka looked great, but the guys who had the most success seemed to be very aggressive. The commentators were saying it may just be best not to try to outguess Dice-K because he throws so many variations of his pitches. The best thing to do is just try to get a good read on the ball.
Matsuzaka looked very good. I don’t think, though, that every outing will be like this one.
I will stick to my line. Matsuzaka will be really good for a couple months and then become all too human when he’s facing the same teams for the 2nd and 3rd times.
His performance today was great. I’m not ready to hand over the cy young just yet though. Kansas City Royals have some decent players, but none of them are power threats. The only one with a semblance of power is Mike Sweeney who happened to have the day off. The clean up hitter had 13 homeruns last season. We can wait for a few starts to see what Matsuzaka can do.
I’m a huge Yankees fan, but I also happen to be a Patriots fan kasey…
Brilliant comeback ,Kyuzo! Did you think that one up all by yourself??
my apologies pete and other new englanders who pull for the patriots, but not necessarily the red sox. certainly, you are outside of the majority.
but, what do i know? all we do up here in the northwest is drink coffee and attempt to monopolize the digital marketplace.
I’ll just add my two cents. Matsuzaka struck out 10 in 7 innings — that’s a pretty good day in my book. I wish some people would show a little more class, and just give credit where it’s due. It does not make you any less of a Yankee fan to appreciate a good performance by a non-Yankee. (Of course if it’s during a game AGAINST the Yankees, the appreciation can be much delayed
)
And I really don’t understand the dissing our own pitching staff. Boggles the mind. Not every good pitcher has to be a strikeout pitcher (Wang), and hello? Since when does Mussina have mental breakdowns? I guess I must be missing something.
So Peter,
what is the deal? If you don’t kiss your butt you get your post deleted? Is that how you play?
That seems…defensive.
doreen,
mussina is easily rattled by umpire’s calls he disagrees with and errors made behind him. he’s said as much in the past.
phil,
i haven’t seen pete delete many (if any?) posts, so i HIGHLY doubt whatever happened to your post had anything to do with you not “kissing his butt.” come on, dude.
Getting rattled and having mental meltdowns are two different extremes in my book. Guess it’s a matter of opinion.
Yeah, but did Matsuzake have a bloody sock?
Matsuzaka had a good outing. A ten K game is great. But it’s one game, and it’s one game against the Royals.
It was a quality performance, but I’m not ready to pronounce him the superstar of the American League just yet.
One start proves nothing! He did look good, but just as if he would have stunk it up, it is meaningless to get excited over one game. Lets see how he looks at the All star break, then again around late August.
We will see if he is the real deal??????????????
If Matsusaka wins the Cy Young based on this one performance, then Greinke is sure to take the AL MVP.
I was happy to see Greinke do so well after all he’s been through. I hope the kid has a good year.
*feigns shock over Matsuzaka being good*
Calm down, guys. Everybody take a deep breath.
Nobody here is claiming Dice-K is Cy Young-worthy. All Peter said was “he’s the real deal,” and, let’s be honest, today he was the real deal.
Whether or not he was worth all that money, nobody knows yet. But 10 K’s in 7 innings, against any major league opponent, is at least mildly impressive, and maybe even pretty good. So let’s ease up with the excessively defensive anti-Dice-K-ism, and just acknowledge that today at least, he was pretty good.
Now there’s a game on, so we have more important things to think about.
I don’t delete any posts unless they contain cursing. But the paper does have a spam filter and often deletes posts with links attached or that are from known spammers. Perhaps that’s what happened.I believe Phil’s posts are linked.
“Since when does Mussina have mental breakdowns? I guess I must be missing something.”
I recall a few games last year where Moose would be cruising with a 3 or 4 run lead until an error and then he would lose concentration, go into meltdown, and blow the lead.
Hi everyone!
I’m from Brazil and a huge Yankee fan. Pete, I’m an addicted to your blog.
In regard to rainbowtrout quote that Dice-K is better than Wang, I’d like to understand why the hell a higher “k” ratio is more relevant than a lower HRs allowed? If you consider that and the constant possibility that a ground pitcher like Wang can produce more double plays in a single game than a power pitcher, you can make a serious case for Wang (which is a proven Major League player, by the way) being a better pitcher than Dice-K.
“Kasey:You should know better than to make that remark. Because I root for the Patriots that means I root for the Red Sox? Give me a break. As I have tried to explain many times (fruitlessly, it seems) I root for good stories and have since I started doing this for a living with I was 17.”
where on earth are people getting this idea??
“Mets Forever: When did you become a baseball fan? What was your favorite team growing up and who were your favorite players?
Peter Abraham: I’ve been a baseball fan all my life. My grandfather managed a team in the local industrial league, my dad played, I played in high school, etc. I grew up in Massachusetts and my favorite team was the Sox My favorite players as a kid were Yaz, Fred Lynn, Rooster Burleson and Butch Hobson. I can give you a pretty good breakdown on every Red Sox team since 1974 or so.”
“Mike Plugh
April 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Some of the people who come here to comment are dumb as bricks. …
Matsuzaka is one of the Top 5 pitchers in the world…..”
Mike, I know you’re a dice-k fanboy and all, but how can you call people here dumb for saying it was just one game against one of the weakest offenses in the league? We’re trying to gauge the guys success in the big leagues.
Meanwhile, Dice-K is “one of the Top 5 in the world” based on that one game? By that logic, Greinke must be either within the top 5 as well, or maybe number 6 since he didn’t strike out as many…