Guess what? Daisuke Matsuzaka could be human after all. He finally gave up his first runs of the spring on Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles. He even made a throwing error.
Since the Red Sox face the Orioles 19 times during the regular season and the odds are Matsuzaka will face him at least 3 times, Matsuzaka said after the game that he was experimenting with things and didn’t want to show his hand this early in the season.
Because it was the Orioles, an AL East rival, “I thought I’d take the opportunity to experiment a little bit,” Matsuzaka said calmly through translator Masa Hoshino. “See where they’re going to hit the ball, see where they wouldn’t hit it. The third and fourth inning, I was definitely experimenting.
During the telecast, Tina Cervasio, of NESN, reported that Dice-K was working in the bullpen after the game with Curt Schilling on his release point. Schilling was also explaining the strike zone to him. But that’s all that Dice-K would let on in what they talked about.
On a positive note for the Sox bullpen, closer candidate, Joel Piñero, pitched two scoreless innings, only giving up two hits.
Some other news out of the Fort on Sunday.
Jon Lester threw 37 pitches to Sox minor leaguers and was happy with his outing. Lester will now pitch in the minor league opener on Friday, throwing 2 to 3 innings. He hopes to be ready to throw at least six innings at the start of the season whether it be in Pawtucket or Boston. I really hope it’s in Boston with Papelbon closing but that’s another story for another day.
The Sox will face the Spankees on Monday night at the Fort in their only spring training game. The Sox will have Tim Wakefield on the hill and will start all their regulars minus Varitek for obvious reasons. Carl Pavano will start for the Yankees, who are bringing Robinson Cano, the Giambino, and Hideki Matsui to the Fort for the game.
