Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

I couldn’t resist. The esteemed writer Charlie Pierce dropped this bit of knowledge on me while waiting for Daisuke Matsuzaka’s batting practice session. It turns out that Twinkies were originally supposed to be filled with a banana-based substance, but because all of the ships used to import bananas were being commandeered to transfer supplies to England during World War II they had to turn to vanilla cream filling for the pastry. That and learning of facts such as that Pierce kissed Lady Bird Johnson hello once helped passed the time until Sidd Finch Matsuzaka pitched.

Come to think of it, I’m going to refer to Matsuzaka as “Sidd” from now on (at least through this post) since nobody has been viewed in such a mythical nature since George Plimpton’s Sidd Finch character (see post from last week).

This from Matsuzaka (Sidd) after his 44-pitch batting practice session (which, at last count, had three members of the media for every pitch):

- Generally it is easier to face against batters compared to (pitching in) the bullpen. My pitches went pretty well.” He threw a fastball, curveball, slider, and change-up.

- “As I threw more pitches my arm was smoother.”

- “For me to see how far I have achieved for the preparation of games is to see how the batter reacts … Today was an important day for me.”

- He started throwing the first 20 pitches from the stretch because he wanted to simulate game situations.

The most surreal moment of the day came when Red Sox media relations director John Blake yelled through the clubhouse: “Bobby Scales is now available outside.” Scales, of course, had joined Jacoby Ellsbury, Luis Jimenez, and Kevin Cash in hitting against Sidd. Each of the participants were mobbed by Japanese and American media, looking for any possible sighting of the Gyro-ball.

“From the stretch to the wind-up it looked like he had a little more velocity on the ball,” said Cash. “Good stuff. Very impressive. His fastball had good life on it. I don’t think he was letting it go to where he can, but he was letting it got to the point where it had an impression on everybody hitting.”

Terry Francona, who was still feeling a bit under the weather but in attendance, said that the scene of Sidd pitching was similar to when he managed Michael Jordan with the Birmingham Barons. “This guy can’t dribble,” said Francona when asked the difference.
Other notes from Francona, who said he spent the day watching the Anna Nicole Smith trial while home sick yesterday. (”I wanted to see if Manny showed up.”)

- Jon Lester threw and looked “tremendous.” There is no special restrictions on Lester.

- Josh Beckett threw very well, as did Curt Schilling, who worked on his change-up. David Murphy, who faced both, was impressed with Beckett’s location, but really was blown away by Schilling’s change. “I had a tougher time hitting off of Schilling than Beckett. He has so many pitches,” Murphy said. “(The change-up) was nasty.”

- Craig Hansen has a bit of “tweak” in his back.

- Matt Clement has one more strength test before getting the go-ahead to throw for the first time, next week. Clement was in full uniform, standing behind the batting cage watching Sidd.

Rule 5 draftee Nick DeBarr genuinely seems blown away by the whole Red Sox spring training scene. The 23-year-old does admit that he is under a bit of a more advanced time table, having to make an impression before faced with the prospects of being sent back to the Tampa Bay organization, but that isn’t stopping him from taking in the entire scene.

It doesn’t hurt that his locker is the only locker facing out towards the other lockers, standing just a few feet from the cubicles of both Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield.

“They told me to compete because the opportunity is there. Just have fun with it,” said the red-headed righty, who made 40 relief appearances in Single A last year, totaling a 4-3 mark with a 2.74 ERA, a year after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. “They’re just looking for anything that opens their eyes. If they see anything than hopefully they will be able to keep me here.”

The Red Sox have had somewhat of a history of keeping Rule 5 guys, hanging on to Lenny Dinardo and Adam Stern. Last year’s pick, pitcher Jamie Vermilyea, had a solid year with Triple A Syracuse, going 6-7 with a 3.85 ERA.

It costs $50,000 to draft a Rule 5 player, $25,000 of which is sent back to the team(along with the player) if the draftee does not stay on the major league roster.

The eye doctors are back and they are more interesting than ever. Dr. David Kirschen and Dr. Daniel Laby, who were chronicled in the Eagle-Tribune last spring training, are back for their few days of tests with the players.

This time they are bringing in something new: Equipment to measure the players’ hand-eye coordination. They have two tests, one for simple reaction (not having to identify specifics) and recognition-type of reaction. The recognition reaction test is most interesting with the players having to watch a screen which flashes an image of a hand holding a certain kind of grip on the baseball. For example, if the player is asked to push a button when the fastball grip is shown, than they have to wait out the other possible images (curveball, knuckleball, and slider) before committing to the fastball. An unnamed player from the Dodgers supplied the imagery for the grips.

Jonathan Papelbon held court before the workout today and was lamenting some of the rule changes identified by Major League Baseball. Of note was the encouragement by baseball to have the pitchers get rid of the ball within 12 seconds this season instead of the previous count of 20 seconds. It is the time the pitcher has to deliver the ball with nobody on base once he gets the ball. He also wasn’t pleased with the lack of understanding from baseball in regards to pitchers’ need to retaliate when one of their own players gets hit by a pitch.

Papelbon (with the encouragement of Beckett) let the media in on his newest investment: Ispottedyou.com. “It’s like MySpace with a Spanish element,” he said. The pitcher said it was going to make him a “Gajillionaire.”

Got to call my wife to free up some funds. But rest assured, when I become a Gajillionaire I’ll still blog once in a while.

To answer a question, the starters’ next batting practice session will be Monday. I don’t know if David Ortiz will be in that group (it’s not posted until that day), but I’m pretty sure Manny won’t be.

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