Pssst...spring training means nothing...but...

[WilliamPitt]

Dice-K flashes glove, holds Marlins scoreless
Associated Press

JUPITER, Fla. -- Daisuke Matsuzaka reached to snare a line drive, then grinned and bowed to his shortstop.

It turns out the rookie from Japan is a pretty good fielder.

He can pitch, too: Matsuzaka threw three scoreless innings for the Boston Red Sox when he faced major league hitters for the first time Tuesday.

Dice-K allowed two hits, walked one and struck out three against the Florida Marlins. The right-hander threw 47 pitches, 31 for strikes, including a first-pitch strike to 10 of 12 batters. He escaped a one-out jam in the second after giving up a walk and a double.

"My readiness for the season is difficult to judge from the outside," Matsuzaka said through a translator. "I'm probably 40 to 50 percent there."

More: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2789755

[Forkboy]

1. "then grinned and bowed to his shortstop. "

This guy is going to be a blast to watch!

40 to 50 percent there? Yikes!

[nickgutierrez]

2. As a Yankee fan, this guy scares the poo out of me.

He's gonna be good.

[Bluzmann57]

3. Sigh...I suppose all us Midwesterners are going to hear about

is this guy even if we don't care. In the meantime, Midwest teams win the World Series. Carlos Zambrano is a better pitcher than Matsuzaka. There, I said it. Big Z for Cy Young as well as Santana again.