Daisuke Goes to College

There was only one full spring training game televised today (and that was rather uneventful) to go along with the NESN coverage of Daisuke Matsuzaka's start against Boston College.

Let's get right to what we learned...

* Atlanta starter John Smoltz was snapping off some mid-season curveballs in the first inning and making the Pirates' hitters look foolish. In the second, Smoltz threw a first-pitch knuckleball to good friend and former teammate Adam LaRoche...but I don't think Tim Wakefield has anything to worry about. Smoltz's knuckleball didn't look like the kind of pitch you'll see in the regular season.

* In the fifth inning, Bob Wickman came on to pitch for the Braves. I don't want to sound rude here, but I actually started to wonder if ESPN was showing a replay of a game from the mid-'80s with Terry Forster on the mound. Wickman is not quite as wide as Forster at this point...but he's getting close.

* Braves right fielder Jeff Francouer got a fat fastball from Pirates prospect Franquelis Osoria in the bottom of the fifth and crushed it over the left field fence.

* Former Pirate Mike Gonzalez pitched the sixth for Atlanta, and he didn't look good. Gonzalez walked the first hitter and then allowed a wind-blown home run to Brad Eldred before settling down.

* In the seventh, Pirates shortstop Brian Bixler (the team's #8 prospect, according to Baseball America) crushed a high fastball from Oscar Villareal. There's no doubt the home run was wind-aided, but still...it cleared the fence with plenty to spare.

* Josh Sharpless, Pittsburgh's #6 prospect according to BA, pitched the eighth inning but doesn't look overly impressive. His fastball topped out at 90 mph and he doesn't appear to have anything more than an average breaking ball.

* Aside from the few highlights listed above, today's game between the Pirates and Braves was one of the more uneventful spring games you'll see -- very few top prospects and nothing noteworthy from any superstars.

* NESN provided live coverage of Daisuke Matsuzaka's first start in a Red Sox uniform, although they cut away from the game after Matsuzaka departed.

* Daisuke's first pitch was a 91 mph fastball that was slapped the opposite way for a double by the B.C. leadoff hitter. That, however, would be the last hit Matsuzaka would allow.

* Matsuzaka finished up the first inning strong -- striking out the last two hitters to strand a runner at third.

* As for Matsuzaka's stuff, his fastball topped out at 92 mph on the NESN gun, and he displayed a sharp, downward-breaking curveball. He also threw at least one slider and may have even mixed in a changeup (although I didn't notice one.)

* In the second, Matsuzaka was perfect...and then his night was over. He certainly benefited from two "generous" (according to one B.C. player interviewed in-game) third strike calls during this outing. All in all, Matsuzaka threw 25 pitches (19 strikes), struck out three and allowed just one hit.

* Tomorrow (Saturday) looks like a much better day, with three games available via satellite and one more via MLB.TV. I'll post items of note from those games tomorrow evening.

* Before I wrap up today's entry, though, I wanted to comment on the news reports suggesting that the MLB Extra Innnings deal with Directv may soon be announced. A story hit the wires earlier tonight about a letter sent by Directv to the FCC in response to their inquiry. What's interesting about this is the fact that Directv spelled out some of the improvements to the E.I. package, which include more games in hi-def and a channel that features live cut-ins to games (similar to the NFL's "Red Zone" channel.) Now if only they could figure out a way to include Phillies, Padres and Blue Jays games in the package on a regular basis...