Daisuke Takes A Walk On The Wild Side

What an awful performance by Boston pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka Thursday night. Take a look at his pitching line and you'll see why...

Boston*********************** IP H R ER BB
Daisuke Matsuzaka (L 3-2) 4.2 **2 **3 **3 **8


The Boston Red Sox fell to the KC Royals by a score of 4-3. The thing that glaringly stands out on that pitching line is the walk total. 8 (!!) bases on balls in only 4 2/3 innings of work. He was all over the place and the Sox manager could take it no more. He yanked him with 2 outs in the fifth, putting undue strain on the bullpen. Nice work, Daisuke. You sickened me. He said this after the debacle...

"My lower body wasn’t cooperating today, so I had to rely too much on my upper body. Between these two starts I had noticed a little bit of soreness but it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind going into my start tonight. Also, I knew that during my pregame warmup in the bullpen tonight, my pitches weren’t great but I couldn’t make the necessary adjustments.”

Weren't great? Sore again?? DO NOT NIBBLE. I don't think he was trying to do that but something is clearly wrong with his mechanics and it's going to take some work to fix it. His catcher, Jason Varitek, said the same thing about his command...

“He’d have it for a click. It was still powerful (his command), and then it would run away on him. Sometimes it was his cutter. But he just couldn’t find a way. Usually, you can find one or two pitches with him that kind of slows him down. He had a hard time of slowing down. He was pretty amped. He was strong. Hopefully we can slow him down a little bit and get back into delivery. He wasn’t far off.”

'Tek had the best view of anyone at Fenway Park but my view while watching the contest on NESN HD was just fine and I got so disgusted, I bailed out in the fifth frame. Winning 4 straight against the first place Tampa Bay Rays on the road and then coming home and losing to a team with a losing record doesn't make any sense to me except for the fact that our starters were on a roll. That ended Thursday. Let's hope Wakes can start another victory streak tonight.

In other Red Sox news, Jacoby Ellsbury is still hurting big-time. His XRAYs that were taken in Florida were examined by the Boston medical staff and they will continue with more of the same until they find out the source of his nagging pain. Here's Boston skipper Tito Francona...

“He’s really tender,’’ manager Terry Francona said before the game. “He’s been examined, and we’ve looked at all the pictures. All the medical people are trying to look at everything. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this; we’re not at the bottom of it."

And Victor Martinez, who pinch hit last night late in the game, is getting close to returning to his catching duties. Ironically, his left big toe hurts him the most when he crouches behind the plate.

It's Wakefield versus Davies tonight at 7:10 at the Fens. I wish every one of you a great Friday and a terrific Memorial Day weekend. Be careful and buckle up if you'll be on the roads. You can click on this post's title for more sickening details of Daisuke's self-immolation and as always, BE WELL. I'll see you soon. Thanks for being here.