Opinion

The trials and tribulations of Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Matsuzaka and the Red Sox should have seen it coming.  The answer was right there in front of them.  It was obvious to me. 

How did I know something that all of them didn’t?

Well, I saw the movie Mr. Baseball.

Am I joking? 

Maybe a little bit, but not entirely.

There is a lot of talk in the media about Josh Hamilton's latest injury.  For those who somehow missed it today, Hamilton broke a bone in his arm trying to tag up on a foul pop up.  The catcher had left the plate uncovered, and it would take perfect execution to get him out.  It was a foot race to the plate.

Entering the rubber match against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants have not played up to expectations thus far this season.  

I know it's very early to say anything about any team, but the Giants are not playing to their strengths to win games.

In the early going to the 2011 season Terry Collins has had trouble managing the Mets bullpen because of the ineffectiveness of just about every pitcher in it. The problems started from the get go with a blown save in the second game of the year by closer Francisco Rodriguez and seems to have had a trickle down affect on everyone else.

With the recent news of Manny Ramirez failing yet another drug test, the debate of whether or not players tied to steroids deserve Hall-of-Fame recognition has sparked once again. 

The biggest issue in baseball is the usage of steroids. Bud Selig and the rest of the league have become more wish-washy and flip-floppy than any politician on the face of the planet. Implementing a ban on performance enhancing drugs is only a fraction of what the league needs to do to keep PEDs out of Major League Baseball.

The Mets have played just 10 games this year, but it is not too early to be concerned about some of the team’s issues.

I am giving the disclaimer in advance that we are dealing with small sample sizes at this point of the year.

It is early, but the team is currently sitting in last place in the NL East. While the Mets won’t spend the year in the cellar, there are some issues that will certainly keep them from competition for a playoff spot.

Rating a team ten games into the season often seems like a lost cause. 

Imagine, for instance, critics panning a movie after watching ten minutes. 

What if a teacher wrote you off two weeks into the new semester? 

How about rating the Chargers after one game?

Yet ten games of the baseball season still represent more than five percent of the season, and Padres fans can explain firsthand about the difference a few games can make, let alone ten. For further references, I suggest googling the 2010 season.

Eleven games into 2011, the Boston Red Sox are 2-9.

They've dug themselves a nice little hole to work out of, huh?

Amid the many things that are going wrong for the Red Sox, there are some things that are going right. 

David Ortiz is having his best spring in years. Adrian Gonzalez has settled in nicely. Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are both coming off superb eight-inning efforts.

John Steigerwald, who writes a column for Observer-Reporter.com, places the blame for the beating out side of Dodger Stadium on Opening Day on the victim, San Francisco Giants fan, Bryan Stow.

He basically says Stow (which he originally spelled Snow, before the site corrected) was asking for it by wearing a Giants Jersey in Dodger country?

What is this, an episode of Gangland?