Saturday, April 07, 2007

MVP-O-The-Day: None other than Mr. Dice-K!

Daisuke Matsuzaka began his career in US Baseball with the Boston Red Sox today when he threw out the opening pitch of the game.

His first game is said to have been watched by as nearly as many American fans during mid day as Japanese -even at 3:00 AM- as the game played live.
Matasuzaka made some impressive throws in the early innings to bring the Sox a victory against Kansas City, 4 to 1.

Matasuzaka spent eight years with the Seibu Lions (2006: 17-5 ...Rawr, it's Kimba all grown up -->) in Japan and had been called "...unquestionably the best pitcher in the country." (Dave Sheinin, The Age News)

Thanks Kami for this bit of intel! ;)

Also sourced: Japanesebaseball.com, New York Times

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4 Comments:

At Apr 8, 2007, 5:21:00 AM, Blogger Strawberry Pocky said...

RAKUTEN EAGLES ARE BETTER, MORNING MUSUME AND DEF DIVA SANG A SONG ABOUT EM! O:
Let go rakuten iii gusu! <3 LET'S GO RAKUTEN IGURUSU! <3 Icchae hora~
OK ENOUGH.
:3
Eeew lions

 
At Apr 8, 2007, 6:17:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm a Kansai Tigers fan myself...

The surge of big name players leaving for the MLB, causes mixed feelings towards many people.
Would be Players are now dreaming of joinning a MLB club, versus a Japanese Club.
This is something that is starting to impact プロ野球.
These clubs are no longer with their big names which may impact the fan base...
How often do you hear about a big name MLB player going to Japan?

Personally, I think it's a good way to learn about other cities :P
If you were to ask a Japanese to name some cities in America, they'd most likely name L.A., New York, and Boston. :P

I remember when I was at my favourite pub in Nagoya and said I was going to Toronto, not many people knew of Toronto, until I pointed out the New York vs Toronto game that was on the TV.
"Oh! They beat New York! They must be a strong team. Who do they have?"
Well... no big name Japanese players... that's for sure... and having a Japanese pitcher doesn't always mean good things for a team... the game on the 7th vs Tampa is a good example :P

Side note: The minister of finance criticized NHK's extensive coverage of that particular game. He noted that it's good to see a more global interest... but having the 7am news filled with game highlights and commentary could detract from "actual news".

 
At Apr 8, 2007, 6:28:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In response to Kip's lack of knowledge of Baseball...

Basically, Chunichi Dragon's were last seasons champs...
Tyrone Woods was the big hitter for them 47 HR's last season...
In all the games I watched he had a Home Run at almost every time he was at bat...

This season he's pretty much been a big 0, until that was turned around by some advice from his manager...
I just gave some background on his manager...

For Baseball fans that are curious who Tyrone is... he was a 5th draft pick for the Expos in '88, but never made it to the majors...
He played in the Korean league before hitting Japan in 2003, and is the ONLY PLAYER that has led both Korean and Japanese leagues in Home Runs.

 
At Apr 8, 2007, 11:15:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

...I knew it was Kimba...

t0t

 

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