Red Sox Pitching Coach John Farrell On Daisuke Matsuzaka..ESPN Gameday Today With The UCONN Women, A First.

Good morning on this warm pre-dawn Saturday. I have a couple of things to write about and the first one concerns Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was featured along with the Darkman in the post just below this one. It's all about communication, open communication between a player and his coaches, managers and trainers. John Farrell is the pitching coach of the Boston Red Sox and he had a few things to say about number five starter Daisuke Matsuzaka. He stresses that open communication between all parties is vital...

“I think the one thing that we strive to do, and go to great lengths, is to put a player in the best position possible to have success,’’ Farrell said before last night’s Boston Baseball Writers Association dinner, “and that takes an openness on all parts to accomplish that. I think when it comes out after the fact, there is some frustration there, but I know that as a competitor he wanted to be on the mound and he didn’t want any other distractions. But I think, based on the challenges that we dealt with and the obstacles that were overcome physically, I think we’re moving toward a more open and consistent line of communication.’’

This all stems from Daisuke's "hidden" leg injury that occured during his preparation for last year's World Baseball Classic. He did not communicate that ailment to the Boston trainers and in effect ruined his season. John Farrell wants to make sure that will never happen again. Here's Dice...

“Fortunately I was in charge of my own training, so if it started to hurt, I could adjust to not hurt myself,’’ Matsuzaka was quoted as saying. “But pitching while hiding the injury was very difficult. Even when I didn’t feel the pain, my body was holding back because it sensed the danger.’’

He was never the same in 2009 as the Daisuke we were used to. He's our number five guy...if he pitches like a number two, the Boston Red Sox will go far, far into the stratosphere of late October. Here's hoping.

Lastly, ESPN/ESPN HD is pulling a first-timer at 9pm tonight. Well, it starts earlier than that but ESPN Gameday will be covering a women's basketball game with their "A" team of Dick Vitale, Dan Schulman and Doris Burke. The national champion UCONN women, winners of 55 straight games and rated number one in the country, will face the third rated and also undefeated Notre Dame team here in Storrs, Connecticut. It should be a good one.

You can click on the title of this post to be zapped to the Hartford Courant's Jeff Jacobs and his thoughts about Dick Vitale and the rest of the crew. Have a great Saturday and a terrific weekend. As always, BE WELL.