News today

The good news is that Daisuke Matsuzaka's deal was finalized today and it looks like he's going to be the 1000th MLB player from Japan. The bad news is that I seriously doubt that he'll do better than Nomo. In my view, Nomo was one of the best pitchers Japan has ever seen, and D-Mat (sounds much better than his full name, which only reminds us of high-priced beef) is as good or slightly worse because, despite being so young, he relies much more on slow pitches than Nomo as if he's a tremendously seasoned pitcher, although his straight balls may be a bit faster than Nomo's. Ichiro once commented about him: "He pitches like an old man," adding he was pretty disappointed to see how often Matsuzaka counted on his slow breaking balls instead of his trademark straight fastballs. He's the kind of pitcher who loses as much as he wins, and gives up quite a high percentage of homers per inning, ------ and this with Japanese players who obviously have much less power on average than American counterparts. So chances are that he's going to be another Irabu, or still another Irabu after Ioka in Yankees. Anyway I bet even if the Red Sox make it to the World series in the years to come, he won't be among starters. So it's going to be like déjà vu all over again for American people to see.
By the way, I once lived within walking distance of the home stadium of Seibu Lions, Matzuzaka's team. I watched Ichiro playing there. I remember he looked so petit because we were seated at the top of the stadium. But even at that distance, I was impressed how fast he stole second, though I couldn't really distinguish him from the base umpire from our position. He hit a homer while I went to the bathroom and a double while I went up to buy sushi, California rolls.