I was happy to wake up this morning and read Alex Belth's appreciation of Hideki Matsui(notes) over on Bronx Banter. For some reason, I let my mind think that Yankees fans would barely notice the departure of their aging DH to Anaheim, but it's nice to see that Godzilla wasn't lost among all the other stars or the hunger for a repeat title.
Writes Belth:
"I will miss his calm demeanor (has he ever argued with an umpire since he's been in States?) and his slashing line-drives. Who'll soon forget his batting stance? Matsui stood erect and still, his shoulders twitching slightly like a horse swatting away flies with its tail. He was not a physical giant like Alex Rodriguez(notes), but he was a massive guy, the widest player, across the chest, I've ever seen."
Matsui played seven seasons in the Bronx and though he struggled with injuries during the second half of his tenure, he didn't miss a game over his first three seasons. He leaves the Yankees with a total slash line of .292/.370/.482 with 140 homers and 597 RBIs. He also heads to Orange County with the knowledge that he was a consummate teammate while handling the pressure of opening the Japan market for the world's biggest baseball team. His greatest "Yankee moment" didn't come until his final game in pinstripes, but what a moment it was for the first World Series MVP to hail from Japan.
Matsui's new deal with the Angels is a team-friendly one-year, $6.5 million contract and the relocated Japanese press corps will no doubt take interest in whether his 35-year-old knees will stand up to another full season or if he can still play the outfield every so often.
The Yankees, meanwhile, will have to figure out what to do with that DH spot.
But all of that speculation will come later. Today's a day for appreciating what Matsui was able to do in New York. He may not have been the universe's brightest star, but I always found him one of the most interesting to follow
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment