Well this explains why Daisuke Matszuaka sucked balls for the Boston Red Sox in 2009.
Sometime during the devastating loss for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team to Georgetown on Saturday afternoon, I came across a tweet from Daigo Fujiwara, who works at the Boston Globe, about Dice-K. I then retweeted it and clicked on the link but unfortunately it was in Japanese.
So I didn’t think anything of it after that until I saw the Daigo had translated it for Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. It’s definitely interesting to hear what Dice-K had to say and why he did it.
“Early on in January 2009, I hurt my right inner thigh. I consider movement around my hip joint a crucial part of my pitching motion. It happened during my exercise to strengthen my hip joint that I incorporated into training since 2008. I may have pushed myself just a little too hard. It wasn’t the pain that killed me, but it was the regrets and guilt that filled my mind. It was the time to start building up for the season, but I hurt myself because of my own doing.”
“I didn’t want to show my weaknesses. I didn’t want them to think I was making excuses. I would rather be criticized than ridiculed for making excuses. I repeat, I really didn’t want to be the center of concern for people. I believe when you say you are sick, you become sick. Sure I appreciate that you are concerned about me, but I don’t even like to be wished good luck about my health.”
That folks is just a sampling of what he had to say. I’d definitely head over to the Globe and check it out.
You have to wonder that since he’s an icon in Japan if he didn’t want to disappoint his country. He pitched well enough in the WBC to lead Japan to another title and his second consecutive MVP Trophy. But in the end hiding the injury from the Red Sox hurt him the most.
As he said, he pitched hurt and we all know what happens when a pitcher does this. But isn’t his obligation to the Red Sox and not his country? Given his status in Japan, it’s a fine line to walk. But the Red Sox are his employers and he should have told them.
Had he done this, he may have been able to heal the injury properly and contribute a little more to the Red Sox than he did. Now we have to hope he bounces back in 2010 and shows us the form of 2008.
