Mea Culpa: The Dreaded “Arm Fatigue” Strikes Matsuzaka
4/14/09: BOS 5 OAK 6
One of the things I try to do is admit when I am wrong. Apparently, I was wrong about Daisuke Matsuzaka and the WBC’s impact on his arm.
Per Terry Francona:
“We had a talk with him the other day about this. We knew that he was just, I don’t know if fatigued or what, but came out of the WBC and felt probably like he had ramped up too quick,” … “All the things we were worried about. And then he threw his bullpen and assured us he was fine.”
In other news, Justin Masterson was excellent in long relief last night, throwing 4 scoreless innings and striking out 6. I think this should serve as a bit of a hint to Red Sox management: this guy should probably be a starting pitcher.
Tonight, Tim Wakefield is all that stands between the red-hot Oakland A’s and a sweep of the floundering Red Sox.
…
| Tim Wakefield vs. A’s, Career | |||||
| PA | BA | OBP | SLG | ||
| Jason Giambi | 112 | 0.163 | 0.304 | 0.359 | |
| Eric Chavez | 32 | 0.333 | 0.375 | 0.500 | |
| Orlando Cabrera | 23 | 0.200 | 0.304 | 0.450 | |
| Mark Ellis | 23 | 0.400 | 0.478 | 0.600 | |
| Jack Cust | 15 | 0.333 | 0.467 | 0.500 | |
| Bobby Crosby | 11 | 0.300 | 0.364 | 0.500 | |
| Kurt Suzuki | 6 | 0.400 | 0.500 | 0.600 | |
| Ryan Sweeney | 6 | 0.200 | 0.333 | 0.200 | |
| Travis Buck | 4 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.250 | |
| Matt Holliday | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | |
| Total | 235 | 0.239 | 0.345 | 0.423 | |
The A’s are countering with 21-year-old Brett Anderson. Anderson is a lefty and the Red Sox have never seen him, so…I wouldn’t bet against a 3-hit shutout.
