Truly. The game looks so easy on television. It never looks easy when you stand around for live batting practice.
Yesterday, those of us at the Red Sox complex were treated to one of the most closely watched live BPs in baseball history. Tripods were lined up in foul territory on the third base side on Johnny Pesky Field, and hundreds of fans and reporters stood around to watch Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch to major league hitters for the first time.
Manager Terry Francona had a quick answer when asked if he'd ever seen anything like it.
"Yes," he said. "I had Michael Jordan. And this guy can't dunk, so I've seen it." (Francona managed Jordan in the Arizona Fall League in 1994.)
There was a rumor that some of the Japanese were providing live coverage of live BP. Double live.
"Not true," said Sam Onoda of Japan broadcast outlet NHK. "We're not that crazy."
Dice-K was impressive. He threw 40 pitches, then two pitchouts and two final pitches for good measure. A quartet of Sox minor leaguers (Bobby Scales, Kevin Cash, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Luis Jimenez) flailed away at home plate, managing two solid hits. Cash pulled a double to left-center and Ellsbury hit a solid opposite-field single to left. Jason Varitek caught the Japanese ace.
Boston's captain made light of the bustling scene when he first went to squat behind home plate. Motioning toward CEO Larry Lucchino, scout Craig Shipley, assistant GM Jed Hoyer, pitching coach John Farrell, and a raft of other Sox personnel (including Matt Clement), the catcher said, "Could we clear the area, please? We kind of have some work to do."
Scales stood in first, batting from the left side, and took the first pitch. Matsuzaka initially worked from the stretch before shifting to his windup delivery. Minor league pitching coordinator Ralph Treuel stood behind Dice-K on the infield grass.
"I'd never seen him pitch before," said Scales. "He definitely dialed it up the second time I was in there. The guy's got good stuff. It's not a myth. Not a tall tale."
"I saw him break out every pitch," said Francona. "Fastball, changeup, breaking ball. He had command of the ball. He's got that changeup he turns over and that'll really be effective."
