Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 05, 2007
Game of the Day

Every once in a while there's a game that stands out among all others, and today that game takes place in Kansas City. Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his major league debut. Matsuzaka Watch examines the hype:

The way people are talking about the Matsuzaka debut, it's as if we're about to witness the prophecy of the Archangel Gabriel's "end of days", or at least the coming of the Nazgul to the American Midwest. Spring Training has been very exciting and a lot of people have come to know Daisuke Matsuzaka a bit better for having seen him firsthand. You'd have thought that the mythical version of his background would have subsided just a bit with a closer personal experience with the pitcher, but in fact it has grown. To paraphrase Verbal Kint:

He's become a myth, a spook story that managers tell their hitters at night. Don't take your swings, and Daisuke will get you. Ty Cobb always said 'I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him. Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Mike even offers a prediction for today's line, and it's very good. He believes the veteran will take advantage of the Royals young hitter with his fastball, and fool the veterans with the change. If he comes anywhere near the predicted game, a legend will be born.

And Mike also notes with the lack of sleep in the country, tomorrow would be a good day to invade Japan. :-)

Not to be lost in all this, however, is another important debut. Zack Greinke makes his first major league start since leaving the Royals last year to deal with his depression. He made three relief appearances at the end of 2006, but this is totally different. I'm not sure if it's genius or lunacy to put him on the mound this afternoon. The Matsuzaka crush means most of the media won't be interested in Zack. But then again, he's performing on a world stage today, and you'd think that would bring some pressure. It looks like the former is holding for now, as the Kansas City Star wrote nothing about Greinke on their Royals page today, although they quote him in the long Dice-K article:

"I'm amazed that every single question revolves around him," says Zack Greinke, who will start for the Royals in Matsuzaka's debut this afternoon.

It's two unknowns facing each other today. Both potentially great, but one drawing all the attention. I can't wait to see what happens.

Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 10:01 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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