Gimme the keys

I have never driven a bandwagon before, I own a Ford Taurus and I think that the bandwagon might be more like a Hummer, well some bandwagons are. I think the bandwagon I want the keys for could end up being a huge one, but it seems like right now people are a little nervous. Of course I am talking about Daisuke Matsuzaka and the hype he has created in the past week. I love this risk that the Sox are taking, of course it makes little sense in some respects...like maybe where was that money for Johnny Damon? Why do the Sox still continue to fall in love with guys who might not exactly be known commodities to the Boston area whereas we let guys who have performed on this stage go. I am thinking of guys like Orlando Cabrara, Damon, Millar, Meuller and others that I cant think of right now. Then take the guys who they have taken in to replace those names Renteria, Crisp, JT Snow ( they lucked out with Euck at first), Lowell had a good year but was overpaid. The Sox have been left scrambling a little bit in the past 12 months, filling in spaces that were already full. Sure Alex Gonzalez was a nice pick-up, but Cabrara was so solid in the field and a much better clutch bat in the lineup and you knew he could do it in Boston.
So now we have moved to the Matsuzaka era. Mats is filthy, he was great in Japan; watch him on youtube, unreal. He does pitch up in the zone a little bit but his control is so good that I would say that he can bring his stuff down some. He throws like...gulp...Pedro. His finish is indentical (the recoiling of the arm when he really brings it, the snap on the curve ball). Obviously he is unproven on this type of stage, obviously his services come with a huge price tag and you are left dealing with Scott Boras(s). But if the Yankees won Mats with a bid of 38-42 million Red Sox nation would be in a panic, complaining why the Sox didnt shell out more cash for a guy like this. Well they did, they lose nothing with regards to dealing away youth for this guy. If they have the money then they will spend it. Now I know they had to raise ticket prices, but no one complains about the ticket prices when the Sox are in the playoffs. I cant afford tickets, but I like watching the games from home and I like cheering for a winner. The ticket buyers are just like the Sox, if they have the money they will spend it. If they dont they hope that they get lucky and maybe see a couple games a year.
I love this Matsuzaka deal, I think the risk is totally worth the reward. This guy could be special and I think he is going to be. I think it might take a little bit of patience on everyone's part for his promise to come to fruition but with him in our rotation who will want to face us in the playoffs? Now all we have to do is make sure Theo doesnt sign JD Drew and Julio Lugo, those guys suck and I wont need the keys to their bandwagon.

Johnny Damon

Well first off because of our lack of effort our last blog was cancelled so here is the new one...oops...
Anyways I just wanted to sound off on the whole Johnny Damon return to Fenway thing. Basically I was in the camp that believed he should get nothing, no boos no cheers. I know he was an important part of a championship team, but didnt he get his cheers for that last season when he played in Boston. What exactly does he deserve now? He left Boston to go to the Yankees, it sucks...lets treat him with pure indifference, dont you think that that would bother a guy like Damon who is desperate for attention at all times? It would KILL him more if we just brushed off his return, if we made it known that we dont care...I know I dont miss him as a player...yet. I might, but right now I dont, and I am saying that with Coco Crisp on the DL. We have Big Wily Style Mo Pena playing in Centerfield right now.

However, because the fans decided to boo/cheer Damon I think Damon did something very classy that made me happy and I will tell you why. Damon stepped out of the mold of most athletes, he recognized a moment in the middle of a game. He tipped his cap to the fans and to the Sox players, I really liked that. We see athletes in all pro sports ignore the moment, ignore what is happening. Golfers hide behind their sunglasses and hats while hitting their shots and baseball players do the same thing. Damon stepped outside of that mold, it is in his personality to do it (he said he was planning on it beforehand), he loves the attention and he loves to be loved by all so he figured that it would help. But I think it was a genuine thing that he did, I think a lot of the people in the park realized that too because you could hear the boos shift a little to cheers. Whatever Damon meant by it, I liked it. It was nice to see an athlete recognize a moment and seem somewhat human, not like a robot paid to hit and run down fly balls.