Saturday, October 11, 2008

Typical Matsuzaka

Daisuke Matsuzaka was his normal self last night. He started the game by walking the bases loaded before wiggling out of a jam. The whole night he was practically unhittable and aside from his walk total he was brilliant.

I still think that at some point all his walks will catch up with him, but I doubt it will be this year. Tonight Josh Beckett is on the mound against Sox killer Scott Kazmir. Hopefully Kazmir digs deep, back to his former days when the Red Sox couldn't touch his filthy slider. This year he has been far from dominant against them, posting an ERA of 9.00 in four starts against the Sox. Beckett could still have a fragile oblique and the Rays will be ready to redeem themselves after last night when they left six men on base and struck out 11 times.

In the senior circuit the Phillies knocked off Joe Torre and the Dodgers for the second straight game. You know its not your night when you let the pitcher go 3-3 against you with three RBI and two runs scored.

Torre has been in this spot before and I don't think you can count out him or the Dodgers just yet. Manny is still jacking home runs and Hiroki Kuroda can dominate any game. Plus Jaime Moyer is a good guy to have in your regular season rotation but he leaves a lot to be desired in a playoff rotation.

Game 2 was crucial for the Dodgers. They probably weren't going to win any game that Cole Hamels pitched in but they could have easily won any game that wasn't pitched by him. Chad Billingsley laying an egg in Game 2 was a big letdown for Torre. Still they are very much in the series as they head back to LA.

1 comment:

Dan said...

Four walks are no big deal when you no-hit your opponent for 7 innings. I really thought that game would've had a football-like score instead of the pitchers duel that it was.