Daisuke Matsuzaka was brought here as filler, to help save the arms of the rest of the pitching staff so they don't have to consider surgery in the off-season. Instead, he's killing everybody in the bullpen making them pitch a minimum of five innings per game. And because of that, he needs to go. (Besides, Matt Harvey needs surgery anyway so what exactly was the damn point?)
Everybody else gets a pass for Monday's fustercluck, because ESPN could give a shit about the health and well being of a baseball team 20.5 games behind Atlanta in the division at the end of business on September 2nd, and in the process treating a once valuable property like Sunday Night Baseball as filler on ESPN2 while NASCAR is on ESPN … airing Mets/Nationals in a pennant race … and choosing that game just a few weeks ago when both teams were out of it. So thanks a whole damn lot for that. And thanks to MLB for not rescheduling Mets/Braves as a night game. Whoooooooooole lotta sense there, Bud.
And good on the Mets for not completely laying down and dying during day game after a night game and some travel, especially after Dice K tried to murder them with his loitering.
Daisuke Matsuzaka was in Atlanta on Sunday night, so ESPN does not excuse him. His excuse is that he's finished. Consider that Tim Byrdak came back after a year on the shelf because of arm surgery, and he had to pitch over an inning because Daisuke couldn't make it to the fourth. Combine that with the fact that his pace is excruicating, and you can safely conclude that the Mets probably would have done better to sign Tom Browning, who may be old and finished but at least he works quickly. (This guy once pitched in a game that lasted 2:14 … and the final score was 15-5.) So please for the love of humanity, get Matsuzaka out of here. Bring in Aaron Harang, Tom Browning, or the rotted bones of Tim Keefe for all I care. Let Dice K become the next quarterback of the Jets for all I care, so that Kevin Burkhardt can get us excited about the connection between Matsuzaka and some wideout from Lehigh on the FOX broadcast.
Boy, when Josh Lewin advised us to grab a tall glass of lithium before Monday's game, he wasn't kidding.
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