NEW YORK -- He found a place to throw. Like he always does.
I went to Yankee Stadium last night. Like Daisuke Matsuzaka, I was in New York a day early to get extra rest for tonight's big game with the Yankees. And sure enough, there he was. Throwing.
Walking toward the press gate at Yankee Stadium, I glanced toward the ball fields between The House That Ruth Built and the Deegan Expressway. And I noticed a guy with a unique delivery. Throwing off one of the sandlot mounds.
Closer inspection confirmed my first impression. It was Dice-K, wearing gray sweat pants, throwing to one of the hundreds of Spanish-speaking kids who are always playing ball on those fields.
I tried to talk to them, but it was futile. Dice-K just nodded and smiled like he always does. The lucky catcher didn't understand my questions, either. For a moment I wondered how they communicated with one another, but clearly both spoke the universal language of baseball. Dice-K threw to the kid for a good hour and a half before he went into his 300-foot long-toss routine.
Done with that, he walked into Yankee Stadium, made friends with a vendor, and -- as I type this, I am watching Dice-K throwing bags of peanuts 30 rows into the stands as the money is passed down by cooperative fans.
That's Dice-K for you. This is the man who loves to throw.
Got one of those kids in your neighborhood who's always playing basketball? The kid who dribbles a ball to school, then spins a basketball on his finger when he's watching TV? That's Dice-K when it comes to throwing.
Walpole Joe Morgan advocated pitch ers throwing all the time.
"You never see a catcher with a sore arm, and those guys are always throwing," Morgan said.
Joe would love Matsuzaka. The young man from Japan is throwing in the morning. He's throwing at night. He's throwing, throwing, throwing.
If the Sox would allow him to do what he wants to do, Dice-K would make Warren Spahn look like a short reliever. Fear of overwork and physical breakdown has been an issue with Red Sox management and uniform personnel, but it hasn't stopped Dice-K from throwing 24/7.
Remember last Sunday night at Fenway against the Yankees? Most of you went to bed after the Sox completed the sweep, just before midnight. Not Dice-K. He went over to Belmont Hill and did some throwing to former Sox catcher Rich Gedman. They got done around 3 in the morning.
On his way home from Belmont Hill, Dice-K saw one of those rickety station wagons trolling through his neighborhood, delivering the Monday morning newspapers. Dice-K got into the car, rode shotgun with the guy, and starting throwing newspapers onto porches. Apparently he wanted to keep his shoulder loose.
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