Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Red Sox 11, Northeastern 0

Post-game:

Josh Beckett just spoke after dominating Northeastern. He threw 21 pitches, 19 for strikes, while allowing one hit and striking out five.

- He said he worked on throwing his off-speed pitches for strikes. The two curveballs he missed on were “purpose pitches” throwing them in the dirt on 0-2 and 1-2 counts, respectively.

- First time he faced college hitters. Had originally signed with Texas A&M before committing to Blinn Jr. College. He, of course, went to neither after being drafted second overall by the Florida Marlins.

- Speaking of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Beckett said that playing catch with the pitcher is similar to tossing with Jonathan Papelbon last year. “It just looks different coming out of his hand,” he said.

- Commenting on challenge Northeastern pitchers faced, Beckett said, “You walk Youk to get to David Ortiz. I don’t think he has to worry about that in college.”

Tracked down Boston College baseball coach Mik Aoki just before the Eagles boarded their plane for Florida this afternoon. Aoki said that first four batters to face Daisuke Matsuzaka will be: 1. Johnny Ayers; 2. Ryan Hutchinson; 3. Jared McGuire; 4. Danvers’ Peter Frates. Coincidentally, Aoki was born in Yokohama, Japan and lived in Tokyo until he was 8 years-old.

It wouldn’t be a day of baseball without talking to pitching coach John Farrell. You might wonder why this guy is getting so many rave reviews, but you would understand if you could hold a conversation with him. He talks in specifics about things that are interesting. That’s the best way I can describe it. I stopped him as the clubhouse was emptying and we discussed some of the intricacies of his pitchers’ execution.

For instance, when you watch Daisuke Matsuzka tomorrow look at his front hip and shoulders. If they are opening up too quickly it isn’t good for his command, and gives the hitter a longer window to see his release (which, as Farrell points out, still isn’t long at all). And then there is J.C. Romero, who has undergone a slight adjustment in how he raises his leg in his delivery. Before his right knee would be opening up (pointing almost toward the hitter), while now it is more closed. It has made a big difference in his command thus far.

Farrell also said that he has been taking Japanese classes with Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima 3-4 times a week before workouts. Tomorrow Jason Varitek will join the class, which starts at 8 a.m. The coach has come a long way in his understanding of the language. He now knows how to say all the body parts along with such phrases as “tight,” “loose,” and “warm.”

Pre-game:

Sitting here, watching Northeastern take batting practice. I double-checked and am pretty sure that none of the Huskies are wearing Tabi socks. For some reason I’m fascinated by that bit of hosiery Daisuke Matsuzaka wears (fitting each toe like a glove to improve circulation, among other things).

Speaking of garments, Curt Schilling smartly made a positive imprint on the Japanese media by handing out t-shirts with company’s name on it and Japanese lettering. Even across the world the media mantra holds true: “If it’s free it’s for me.”

Found out that Johnny Pesky can count to five in Japanese. It has nothing to do with the early-morning Japanese lessons some of the Red Sox players and coaches have been partaking in. Pesky grew up with a collection of Japanese-American kids in the Portland, Oregon area, some of whom left the country during the war to fight for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Cross-promotion alert: Check out The Eagle-Tribune today and take a look at how agent Scott Boras is making Alex Cora a better player. (Now that’s a tease.)

Clck here to read today’s column “Boras lends Cora, Red Sox a hand”

One more thing before I forget, if you get a chance find a picture of this year’s Cincinnati Reds media guide. The cover boy is none other than Bronson Arroyo. And it’s not just that he is on the cover, it is the picture which also stands out. It looks almost like a yearbook picture of Arroyo in his baseball uniform.

From Terry Francona today:
- Looking for continuing improvement of communication between coaching staff, catchers and Matsuzaka in the pitcher’s start tomorrow night. Hoping to use spring training to make sure chasm doesn’t get in the way when the season rolls around.

- Non-roster invitee Adam Bernero underwent Tommy John Surgery today.

- Relievers Craig Hansen and Mike Timlin both threw from flat ground. There is no timetable as to their return to the mound. Hansen is recovering from a sore back, while Timlin is looking to bounce back from a spasm just rib cage’s left side.

- Bryan Corey impressed last night, throwing a mid-season form change-up. Talked to Corey a little bit and he fully understands his plight in terms of making the team. But when the manager is singling you out after your first outing, it can’t hurt your cause. He is, if you’re wondering, out of options. “I’m out of everything,” he joked.

- Talked about the maturity of David Murphy and how being in a big league camp for the second time makes a world of difference (as was evidenced by his four-straight strikeouts last year). In the boat Murphy found himself last season were guys like Chadd Spann, who had some yipps in the field last night. Not that it matters, but Spann was the player the Blue Jays asked for in exchange for Mike Bordick back in ‘03.

Thought an interesting avenue to walk down this morning was catching up with some of the relievers who began their run at roles last night. Joel Pineiro, whom Francona mentioned had some inconsistency in finding his arm slot, was bubbling with enthusiasm. “I’m still excited,” said Pineiro, who allowed a run on two hits in his only inning. “I just wanted to get that one out of the way. As a starter I’m just like it’s another start. This makes it a little more exciting.”

Despite the run allowed, Pineiro’s optimism was understandable considering he only threw his best pitch, the slider, once. The rest of his pitches were either four-seam and two-seam fastballs. For example, when Rondell White singled in Jason Bartlett it came in a situation Pineiro would normally have thrown his slider, but instead he threw a fastball called by Jason Varitek which tailed out over the plate a bit too much.

Even the fastballs offered some encouragement, with them moving quite a bit more than usual thanks to his changed arm angle. “You could tell it was moving,” he said. “Guys were saying, ‘Is that a sinker?’ I told them it was a four-seamer (which usually elevates). And all the ground balls were on sinkers, which was the good part.” Pineiro will now pitch two innings on Saturday.

Brendan Donnelly had the cleanest outing of the candidates for the closer’s role, pitching an inning without giving up a hit, run, or walk while striking out a batter. “The first day you don’t know what you’re going to get,” said Donnelly who threw most fastballs, and about three sliders. “I was actually happy with how I threw last night except for one or two pitches.”

For those unfamiliar with Donnelly’s delivery, the righty has one of the more violent pitching motions in baseball. “I’ll tell you this, if you’re a kid who is trying to copy my delivery don’t do it,” he said. “I had a wind-up in 1999 and 2000 but my pitching coach in Anaheim, Mike Butcher, took that away from me. I’ve had (the delivery) as long as I can remember. It’s fine line with me because my mechanics can get out of way. I don’t know how I learned it. I think it started maybe because I was too slow to the plate at one point. If I had to pinpoint one thing that would probably be it.”

Julian Tavarez had a rough outing, giving up a three-run homer to Joe Mauer, but came away content with his spring training debut. The righty mixed up his pitches more than the other relievers, and, he said he felt good about his approach.

He admitted that he entered the season last year feeling not up to par because of the World Baseball Classic and the preparation that preceded it. “When I came out of spring training last year I felt weak,” Tavarez said. “I went to the World Baseball Classic after playing winter ball. I started the season feeling weak, but as the season went on I felt better.”

Some were still talking about outfielder Alex Ochoa’s throws last night. I asked Ochoa if had ever pitched at any level, and he said he never had which, considering his throwing prowess is surprising. He said his best throw came in 1997 when he threw out Ricky Gutierrez at home plate in Houston. Ochoa said he had the best arm in Japan the last few years, which reminded him that at this time this year he was doing spring training drills on the island of Okinawa. Fort Myers looks a whole lot better this time around, he said.

To answer a question, Ochoa was the guy who Chunichi signed when Kevin Millar backed out and hooked up with the Red Sox. He spent four years with the Dragons, making a total of $10 million. In 550 games he hit 75 home runs while finishing with a .283 batting average. He could easily be a solid fourth outfielder for most teams, but there is going to have to be some roster maneuvering for him to make the Sox.

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