What a great game by Dice-K - complete game for the 7-1 win, 124 pitches (following his high school championship heroics, I take it that he’s a freak of nature with a rubber arm… fingers crossed), no walks. Very nice.
I’m just trying to guess what it was Varitek said (or said by mistake, judging by the sound of it):
For the first time in the big leagues, Matsuzaka was on the field at game’s end to accept the congratulations of his teammates, beginning with catcher Jason Varitek, who said something that caused Matsuzaka to break into a wide smile.
“You know me,” Varitek said. “Sometimes I don’t say what I said. Maybe it was the little Japanese that I know.”
What’s “we don’t throw at .260 hitters” in Japanese?
Incidentally, in the video of the post-game press conference, Dice-K looks ridiculous in that oversized white sweatshirt he’s wearing. Good question on the nature of pitch counts in America vs Japan - I’m glad DM didn’t try to extrapolate too much, and just went with the standard athlete’s “I just hope I can pitch like I did today”.