Hello, I'm a Japanese. At the first setout, congratulations!
I'm happy with the achievement of Red Sox. Because there are two Japanese players in your team. Many Japanese became the fan of Red Sox this season and they feel happy now.
By the way do you think how much did they contribute to Red Sox this season? Please tell me your final assessment. Thank you for your answer in advance.
2007-10-28 20:11:03 · 7 answers · asked by KT 3 in Sports ➔ Baseball
Both players made a significate contribution to the Red Sox. I can tell they both put a lot of pressure on themselve and have a real desire to win. We all expected Matsuzaka to be great but everyone was very surprised by how well Okajima pitched. I think more Japanese player coming to play in the US makes the league more compeditive. I glad to hear you are celebrating the Red Sox victory in Japan along with us here in Boston.
2007-10-29 01:48:56 · answer #1 · answered by Jerbson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Matsuzaka started out very strong. In April the Mariners played in Boston and he got Ichiro Suzuki each time. But after about mid-June, he became less reliable. It seemed like there was always one bad inning in each outing in which he would walk several batters. He ended up the regular season 15-12 and was much stronger in the first half of the season. He was solid in the playoffs and won his game in the World Series.
Hideki Okajima was a very pleasant surprise. He is not making 1/40th of the money that Matsuzaka makes but day in and day out, he was the 8th inning. He had a very reliable sub-2 ERA and Bostonians fell in love with him. There is even a song for him. Not for Matsuzaka though.
Okajima had a tougher World Series, but without him pitching nearly every day, the Red Sox probably would not have won the East Division, the American League pennant or the World Series.
2007-10-29 03:19:20 · answer #2 · answered by mattapan26 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Matsuzaka seems overpaid. Maybe he will adjust for next year, but usually new pitchers in the league have the advantage over the hitters and then hitters catch up. Clearly it seems like he started getting hit around a lot more once video got around the league.
Okajima had a rough series, but that does not really mean anything.
I think they are solid players but not that special and would not fare nearly as well on weaker teams.
It will be interesting to see because there will be a lot more tape and all the hitters have seen the two of them now, so I think that puts them at the disadvantage unless they adjust.
to the below 15-12 argument . . . yeah and when your team is among the most prolific offense in the game, and they score like they do, it bails you out of your 4.5 ERA. he wasn't as impressive as he was supposed to be i guess is my contention but its just my opinion. stick him on the Padres or something and let him give up 6 or 7 runs and see if he gets wins which he did this year . . .
2007-10-29 03:17:21 · answer #3 · answered by bourgoise_10o 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well it's great to hear the Sox are getting fans from al over the world.
I have to be completley honest. Matsuzaka was a dissapointment to me, I thought he was going to be GREAT, but he was just average. I'm thinking next year he'll be a lot better though.
Okajima was a big surprise! He was GREAT. He got overworked and had to rest but boy did he come alive again. He's a huge part of the bullpen, and a huge part of them getting to the World Series.
2007-10-29 12:23:56 · answer #4 · answered by *Killer B's* 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Honestly I disagree with bourgoise_10o, both did rather well in their positions, Matsuzaka went 15-12 in the regular season which is impressive for a rookie (as far as overpaid, a rookie with his stuff coming from the minor leagues would probably garner about the same for 6 years(103 million), the hard part is paying part of that up front). Okajima, despite getting a few hits leveled on him today has been a decent setup man, getting key outs and setting the stage for Paplebon to shine. I expect both of them to improve with more exposure to american baseball and hopefully be dominant for years to come.
2007-10-29 03:27:07 · answer #5 · answered by irishdowd 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Without Okajima the Redsox may not have even made the playoffs. Despite his unreliability during the playoffs he was spectacular and dominant for 9/10ths of the season.
Dice-K was very good for a rookie and came up big in game 7 of the ALCS and game 3 of the World Series. Despite the fact that he got pulled early in both games, it was more of Francona being smart and having faith in the bullpen than him not believing in Dice-K.
The Red Sox win it all! Twice this decade.
2007-10-29 03:42:06 · answer #6 · answered by cmcatena 2 · 1⤊ 4⤋
it can honestly be said the Daisuke sucked
Okajime was great but started to collapse a bit towards the end too
WOO! RED SOX! WE DID IT!
2007-10-29 06:51:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋