The One-Fingered Salute: Rocket to the Bronx

In the middle of today's Yankees/Mariners game, a strange voice came over the loudspeaker and made a divine proclamation: Roger Clemens is returning to Yankees pinstripes.

In Red Sox Nation, it was worth less air time than the stain Don Orsillo had on his shirt last week.

The next two innings of YES Network audio was dedicated to a conversation between Michael Kay, Al Leiter, and Clemens, and all the usual references to duty and camaraderie made their appearances. "Jete" kept calling, all of his teammates kept texting, emailing, pressuring him to come back. The Yankees needed Roger Clemens to get World Series rings for all the great players down in the dugout that didn't have them yet: Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Mike Mussina... legends in this great pasttime of ours who sent up the call. And Roger? Roger answered...

...for a prorated $28 million over the remaining 4 months of the season. How noble.

Despite our most nostalgic, sepia-toned desires to see number 21 touch down in the place he launched from, we all knew it would never come to pass in Boston. In the first place, it's hard to imagine the front office that has placed such a high value on each and every dollar it spends dropping Matt Clement's entire 3 year contract value onto an aging pitcher in his mid-forties who's been pitching in the National League for the last three seasons. That money is much better spent elsewhere, to be sure.

Beyond that, there's the fact that the Red Sox have no need for Roger. Their starting rotation is more or less intact thus far. Want proof? Look no further than Julian Tavarez, a mopup starter if there ever was one, who managed to strike out seven batters in six innings against Johan Santana and the Twins. Even the bullpen has been good, with J.C. Romero suddenly remembering how to pitch, and the tag team of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon turning out the lights with great authority. No, the Red Sox don't need Roger, and for that reason, Roger doesn't want to need the Red Sox. He explicitly stated in the YES booth today that he's going to the Yankees because he gets to be The Man, to drive in with his white Hummer and shining armor to save the season of the vaunted Yankees.

To be sure, the addition of Clemens makes the Yankees better, but only on the condition that he can stay healthy. The Bombers have righted the ship lately, sweeping the hopeless Rangers and taking two of three from the pitching-starved Seattle Mariners. Really, there was no legitimate panic around the pinstripes. Their offense is so good that even with a staff ERA of close to 5.00, they would be able to win at least half of their games.

So if you detect a bit of bitterness in my writing this evening, you are not mistaken. I would have loved to see Roger in a Red Sox rotation that could blow away the rest of the league. In the end, though, it's one of those moves that is worth more for it's weight in the headlines than it is for it's weight on the field. Roger did nothing to help his image today, and managed to represent some of the worst tendencies of professional sport in one simple announcement.

And besides, now we can just claim the Yankees are buying the league again. It sure is good to have things back to normal, isn't it?

Gammons Tidbit

Inside Peter Gammons' latest Insider column on ESPN.com is found this interesting tidbit:

Someday, Gabe Kapler will manage the Boston Red Sox. He is starting in Greenville (South Atlantic League) on a five-year program to learn his trade and eventually get the Sox job when and if Terry Francona retires. This is what you need to know about Kapler. He approached one of his players, Zak Farkes, who happened to go to Harvard. "What is the best book you've read in the last year?" Kapler asked Farkes, knowing he is a voracious reader. Farkas identified the book, and Kapler told him he wanted to read it to better understand his player.

That, friends, is a man who's got something going for him upstairs.

Though Francona retiring is not necessarily a sure thing, give credit to both Kapler and Theo for starting this supposed program. Grooming a manager from the very roots of A ball through the big leagues is beneficial to the organization in a number of ways. Not only does the club avoid the frustrating offfseason speculation regarding a managerial replacement, but they also avoid encountering one of the deepest pitfalls of modern baseball: offering a retread manager a job in hopes he's different from wherever he was before.

Too many times managers are fired in one town and hired in another, with vague allusions made to the ability to handle character issues and perform as "a good baseball man." Man, I hate that. Additionally, by the time Kapler is ready for a big league job, he'll have spent several years inside the organization as an educator, acclimating himself to the way the club wishes to develop players. In much the same way that players who journeyed through the minors together gel better at the major league level, a manager who's traveled up the ladder with the players would be likely to have a better than average rapport with his players.

Tavarez Pitches Gem in Loss, Matsuzaka Squeezed

It's true, folks. Julian Tavarez outpitched Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana tonight at the MetroDome, but still managed to take the loss, 2-1. The Sox stranded a discouraging twelve men on base, unable to push any across despite putting on a laser show on the warning track for the past two nights. Oh yea, and Tim Wakefield mananed seven innings of shutout ball last night when he should have been in quarantine.

Unfortunately, I don't want to talk about either of those performances. I'd rather talk about the guy everybody else is talking about: Matsuzaka. Specifically, Let's talk about how Matsuzaka is getting killed behind the plate.

When you watch a lot of Red Sox games, you tend to notice trends. Personally, I like to flatter myself and think I notice things that even the announcers don't always notice. Usually, I'm wrong, but in the case of Matsuzaka and the way he's been handled by umpires, I'm pretty sure I'm on to something. So, I mentioned it to a yesterday evening, and much to my surprise, he agreed with me (though in much more dire terms). Here's the conversation from last night:

CORNER: "Hey, is it just me, or is Daisuke getting squeezed by the home plate umpires?"

FRIEND: "He's absolutely getting squeezed. Carlos freaking Silva is getting more borderline calls than Daisuke is."

CORNER: "Wow, so it's not just me. Any thoughts as to why?"

FRIEND: "Racism."

CORNER: "Really?"

FRIEND: "Definitely."

CORNER: "Huh."

So now I'm here to discuss this outlandish theory with you, my intrepid readers. The chances of Daisuke being the victim of racism on the part of home plate umpires is certainly within the realm of possibility, as not even the most idealistic among us can claim with any sort of legitimacy that racism is dead. However, I am here going to lean on the pride that major league umpires take in their profession and in their ability to call an absolutely neutral game. If he's the victim of discrimination, chances are it's less because of the color of his skin than it is because of his talent.

Matsuzaka is getting squeezed. That, I am sure of. Despite the recent outcropping of command issues, there are repeated instances of him not getting knee-high or outside strikes that most run-of-the-mill major leaguers would get. So, either there's something fishy here or he's run into the worst luck on the planet.

One of the most repeated sentences from pundits and experts during the offseason was "How can a guy who's never pitched in the major leagues be worth $100 million?" They would then go on to explain the merits of paying somebody like Gil Meche or Ted Lilly way more than they're actually worth just because they're known commodities. The answer to their question is a little more complicated than the typical television or radio segment allows, and so it was rarely addressed for the general audience.

This feeling was repeated even by former players, who couldn't seem to comprehend rewarding a guy who hadn't put in any time on the way to the Show. In their eyes, Matsuzaka had to earn his new Red Sox uniform. At the beginning of the season, one of the analysts had something insightful and almost prescient to say prior to Matsuzaka's first start. What was that prediction? That when Matsuzaka shows up for his first big league game, he's not going to get the strike calls he'd used to getting. He's going to have to earn the favor of the umpires.

Upon hearing that, I though it was simple overstatement, but after witnessing his first couple starts, I'm beginning to think there may be something behind it. To be clear, there are a lot of things the Daisuke could do on his own to help his cause (not rushing, keeping the shoulder from flying open, not overthrowing from the stretch, etc), but it should certainly be noted somewhere getting screwed out of this many borderline pitches isn't common.

There's absolutely no way to prove this sort of thing, unless I somehow find a way to get my hands on the the strike zone charts from each of his starts. Even then, though, it would be impossible to say that there was some sort of informal hazing occuring, it would just be a series of coincidences. Matsuzaka has to respond by taking the higher road, by being the better pitcher and proving to his audience that he's not just a lot of hype. Do the little things, and eventually the calls will have to go his way.

A Tale of Two Pitchers

The Red Sox sit atop the heap in the American League East, and though there is still a large chunk of spring before the dog days of summer, the season looks to be a memorable one. In large part, the early success is the result of strong starting pitching, something fans of the 2006 team did not have the fortune to witness. Smack dab in the middle of that pitching are two very different pitchers on what appear to be very similar paths, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Both pitchers were tops in their respective leagues before coming to the Red Sox, and both exude a confidence that is found in the best pitchers in the game. Unfortunately, despite their impressive talents, both found their first exposure to the American League to be an eye-opening experience.

Josh Beckett, in his first year, discovered in the rudest way imaginable that every number nine hitter in the American League can hit cheese. The result was a home run total that would make José Lima green with envy. Matsuzaka, though this is still just the beginning of his career in Boston, had the earliest April success, but has found himself standing somewhere closer to earth as of late.

The biggest adjustments these two pitcher underwent involved the quality of the lineup and the number of pitches required to have success past the middle innings. Daisuke, however, is dealing with two things Beckett never encountered. The first has been greatly discussed, that being the switch from a six man rotation in Japan to a five man rotation in the States, a switch that means less rest between starts. The other obstacle is one that has not received a lot of print space: the difference between the Japanese and American baseball.

Matsuzaka's success in Japan had him throwing a smaller pill, one with seams that are a little bigger and whose cover isn't as slick as the MLB version. His breaking balls, which depend so heavily on his ability to grip the ball, have really lacked the placement that he's so renowned for. His success thus far has been due to the fact that he's new to the league, but we're already starting to see some difficulties in his latest starts. Tonight's start, where Daisuke allowed 4 earned runs in the opening frame, is the case in point. Somwhere, there's an adjustment to be made. There is hope.

Where, you ask? Look no further than the aforementioned Josh Beckett. After his debut season struggles, Beckett was able to go back to his other pitches and regain his control over them, leading him to a 6-0 start here in 2007 and a fair share of gasps and slackjawed dumfoundedness. Matsuzaka, like Beckett, is likely come around and find a way through the mechanical and physical obstacles of this, his transition year, and when he does, expect the pitcher we hoped for.