A Retraction and Apology.

       Three weeks ago, I wrote this post.  It was well deserved, mostly because of the first three starts Daisuke Matsuzaka made for the Mets...take a look.

 First 3 starts:
Date      Opp      GS  W    L    IP    H    R   ER  BB K  ERA  WHIP
Aug 23    DET      1    0    1    5.0    6    5    5    1    4      9.00  1.40
Aug 28    PHI       1    0    1    4.1    6    4    4    4    5      8.31  2.31
Sep 2    @ATL     1    0    1    3.0    7    6    6    2    3    18.00  3.00

That's about as ugly a three starts as you could want.  Plus, he was taking about 45 seconds between pitches; it was simply awful to watch.  Somehow, for reasons I cannot quite fathom, he stayed in the rotation.  Well, then this happened...

 Next 3 starts:
Date      Opp       GS  W    L    IP    H    R   ER  BB K  ERA  WHIP
Sep 8    @CLE     1    0    0    5.2    3    1    1    3    6    1.59    1.06
Sep 14    FLA       1    1    0    7.0    2    1    1    1    3    1.29    0.43
Sep 20   @PHI    1    1    0    6.0    4    4    2    3    6    3.00    1.17

And then today he went into Cincinnati and did this...
Sep 25    @CIN   1    1    0    7.2    4    0    0    2    6    0.00    0.78

You have reason to smile, Dice-K, it is not often I eat so much crow.  I will give credit where credit is due, however.  He listened to his coaches and manager, pitched much faster and sharper, regained his former command, and now could even get a long look for next season.  謝るよ。  Shazai.

Labor Pains.

or, The Failure Files: Daisuke Matsuzaka.

       I know where we are in the Mets season, I am fully aware of it.  We are in the "Throw it against the wall and see what sticks" portion - lots of rookies and reclamation projects. So when I heard the Mets were going to give Daisuke Matsuzaka a shot a couple weeks ago, I was like "hey, what do we have to lose?" Well, I'll tell you what...about 12 hours of my life I will never get back and every last ounce of my sanity watching him pitch both deliberately and horribly.

I don't often speculate in prospects and rookie cards, but I will admit, it was my own failure in buying into Dice-K mania.  I didn't buy any crazy 1/1 ultra rare butt swatches or anything, but I did hoard his cards for a while.  I now wouldn't put them in my bicycle spokes for fear of slowing the damn thing down too much and making it crash and burn.

I once kind of offhandedly dismissed poor Dice-K and felt kinda bad about it, really.  Now?  If I ever see him pitch again for the Mets, I will go on the kind of rampage that will make the headlines on several continents.  This is what happens when you pitch three starts to a 10.95 ERA, and believe me, that does not even begin to say how terrible his pitching has been.  Is there anyway to luck into an 11 ERA? Well, ol' Dice-K has done it (at least we didn't pay $51 million for the privilege).  *sigh* It's all so depressing.  At least my fantasy football draft is tonight.