Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Time To Roll The Dice?


I wasn't too terribly worried with the Red Sox start away from Fenway this past week. It's true that no one wants their team to be 0-6 before they even play their first home game but when you've got "Friendly Fenway" to come home to it makes a start like that a bit more bearable. That is until you see that things may not be quite what Sox fans had hoped for at home before the season began, especially when it comes to pitching. Things do seem to be settling down a bit. Both Lester & Beckett looked much better their second time out.....but Dice-K, now that could be trouble. Here's what The Boston Herald wrote this morning:

When Matsuzaka walked the Green Mile to the dugout, he was literally booed off the field. It was worse than the booing rained upon visiting villain Johnny Damon, who in the first inning hit the first pitch he saw from Matsuzaka for a home run. In fact, it’s quite possible that no Red Sox player in recent memory was booed as badly as Matsuzaka was last night.


It takes a lot for Red Sox nation to collectively turn on a player, but when they do they rarely let them back in their good graces. But is it time to "Roll The Dice?" I'm all for giving a player a chance to adjust at the start of the season, but Matsuzaka's problems go back to last season and it doesn't look like things have improved very much for him. If anything, based on last night's outing it looks like Matsuzaka may actually be worse! John Lester takes the mound tonight, so we'll see if he can keep pitching the way everyone expects him to & help to make fans slowly forget about the dismal start to the season......but as for Matsuzaka, it may be time for the Sox to cut their losses......and cut their ties with The Dice.