Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Gyroball
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by user Josh Q. Public
Josh Q Public: There’s more to me than you’ll ever know, and I’ve got more hits than Sadaharu Oh.
Public Service Announcement: OK, here we go! The next big thing. Not Google. Not the Macarena. Not pet rocks. Not Pop Rocks. Not the Furby. Not Monchichi, oh so soft and cuddly. Not the Jheri Curl. Not the high top fade. Not the mullet. Not disco. Not shell toes with the fat laces. None of that. It’s Daisuke Matsuzaka and the gyroball. Elusive as Yetti. Mysterious as Roswell. Curious as Stonehenge. When all this post season baseball stuff is over, you will become quite familiar with both. Daisuke Matsuzaka and the gyroball. The gyroball and Daisuke Matsuzaka. They will be the hotstove story of the winter. What’s all the fuss about? Who is this Daisuke Matsuzaka? And what on God’s good green earth is a gyroball? Well, that’s what I’m here for. Let’s get to it, shall we?
Hey Public, who is Daisuke Matsuzaka? Matsuzaka is a Japanese hero. Hey Public, how did that happen? He pitched Yokohama High School into the Koshien Tournament. Hey Public, what’s the Koshien Tournament? It determines the best high school team in all of The Empire of the Sun. Well, what did Matsuzaka do there? Oh nothing much. Just pitched a 17-inning, 250-pitch complete game victory. In the blistering heat yet. Yowza! That made him a hero? Yup, that and the fact he played in the outfield the next day and notched a save. Goodness! That made him a hero? Yup, that and the fact he topped it all off with a 3-0 no-no in the final. Mercy! Mercy indeed. The legend begins.
Upon graduation, he was scapped up by the Seibu Lions with the very first pick of the 1998 draft. Immediately became the team’s ace. Rookie of the Year. Fast forward to this year. His eighth as a professional. The Crown Jewel of Japanese Baseball. 2.04 ERA. A .195 batting average against. A .234 on-base average against. Not too shabby, huh? His strikeouts-per-nine-innings? 9.86, would have been second only to Scott Kazmir in the bigs. Strikeouts-to-walks ratio? 5.97, would have been second only to Curt Schilling.
I know, I know, this is Japanese Baseball we’re talking about. But, consider this: In the World Baseball Classic, Matsuzaka played against premier Major League players, right? In case you forgot, he was named Tournament MVP. Gained the victory in the final by giving up only one run in four innings while striking out five. Finished 3-0, 1.38 ERA in three WBC starts. Won three of Japan’s five total WBC wins. So, fair to say, the guy can pitch. Bruce Bochy: “Without question he could pitch in the major leagues.” Bobby Valentine: “This guy is the real deal. He has the ability to be one of the top starters in M.L.B.” One scout who asked not to be named: ”It’s not only his stuff, his ability to pitch is even more impressive. He’s a bulldog.”
OK, Ok, we get it. Now what’s all this gyroball nonsense? Loch Ness has got nothing on this beast. According to believers, the gyroball is a pitch that harnesses different physical forces than any other pitch thrown today. If what these guys say is true, the pitch may change the game of baseball, as we know it. Just like the split-finger fastball did. That pitch made Bruce Sutter a Hall of Famer. It prolonged the Rocket’s career by some 10 odd years. OK now, back to the gyroball. According to legend, Japanese physicist, Ryutaro Himeno, invented it. Will Carroll, a writer for Baseball Prospectus and sometime pitching tutor, teaches it. Robert Kemp Adair, Yale physics professor who wrote The Physics of Baseball, calls it “hogwash.” Daisuke Matsuzaka denies throwing it. Supposedly, a gyroball will head toward home plate looking like a fastball before breaking straight down as it crosses the plate. It spins more like a Dan Marino spiral than a Curt Schilling splitter. So what causes the break? Simply gravity. Got it? Me either. Who throws it? Who knows? Maybe some kid named in Indiana named Joey Niezer. Maybe Daisuke Matsuzaka. Maybe Sasquatch himself. Goony goo goo.
Not for nothing, in September, the Yankees hired Shoichi Kida to become one of its main scouts in the Far East. Kida not only played with Matsuzaka in high school, but also briefly played with him with the Seibu Lions. Hmm reminiscent of the Sox hiring Cuban Euclides Rojas while courting Contreras. A lot of good it did them. Sox, Mets, Yankees, Mariners and Dodgers named as the frontrunners in the Daisuke sweepstakes. Let the bidding begin!
Peace out homies. Six Two and Even!
Contact us: Public@JoshQPublic.Com
