[新聞] Tito, Dice-K talk on phone, clear air

看板RedSox作者Belladonaa時間16年前 (2009/07/30 02:24)推噓6(6推 0噓 4→)

留言10則, 6人參與討論串1/1

http://tinyurl.com/l42hfq Francona, Matsuzaka clear the air By Ian Browne / MLB.com / 07/29/09 8:18 PM ET BOSTON -- A day after expressing disappointment that Daisuke Matsuzaka publicly criticized the Red Sox's training methods, manager Terry Francona reached out to his right-hander in a lengthy phone conversation Wednesday that seemed to improve the state of mind of both parties. Matsuzaka is in Florida rehabbing his right shoulder and overall physique with an eye toward returning to the Boston rotation in September. "I actually spent a pretty good deal of time with him on the phone this morning, which I think was probably important," Francona said. "I let him talk a little bit, which he actually did, in English, which I think, was [a case of Matsuzaka] making the effort, which I thought was pretty cool." Francona seemed to feel far better about the situation than on Tuesday, when the controversial story first came out. "He understood how we felt," Francona said. "He was trying to make some points about probably being a little bit regretful. Again, I probably need to not speak for him. That's not fair. And the points I made to him were, 'Yeah, this is how we felt. Now, where do we go from here?' "Because ultimately, that's way more important to me, or to us. 'OK, we had a bad couple of days. Things didn't go the way we wanted. How do we make them better and where do we go from here?' That's always how we feel. I think that we had a real good day." As upset as the Red Sox were with Matsuzaka's method to revealing his displeasure, Francona made it clear to the pitcher that it was nothing that needed to linger. "That would be a mistake on my part," Francona said. "I don't ever think we do that. I explained that to him. If you're mad at somebody or you're disappointed in somebody, sometimes you raise your voice, sometimes you get mad. Hopefully when you take the emotion out of things -- which is why we try not to do a lot of things through emotion -- then you come up with, 'OK, how do we make this better?' That's how we always try to approach it. And we got there today." There is still no definitive timetable for when Matsuzaka will return to the rotation. But Francona said the team might have a better idea early next week, when Dice-K travels from Fort Myers, Fla., to St. Petersburg, where the Red Sox will be playing a two-game series against the Rays. Francona again wanted to make it clear that the Red Sox will give Matsuzaka more freedom to throw at his own pace in between starts once he is in the physical condition to do so. "We do not discourage him from throwing as long as his shoulder can handle it," Francona said. "He likes the touch and the feel -- the repetition, which, I understand, he has to be able to handle that physically or it doesn't do him any good. [Otherwise,] he's going to regress, his shoulder is going to become weaker, he's going to go from an area where our medical people know he's asking for trouble so when it gets to that point, we don't let him. "We've had to shut him down, we've had to cut his throwing back, and we told him if he shows up and he is in shape and his shoulder is strong, we will not get in the way of his throwing. That's where we're at with him, and he understands it. Now it's his responsibility to be that so he can throw." http://tinyurl.com/mrzj9m Francona: 'It was a good step today talking to Dice' Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he spent “a pretty good deal of time” on the phone with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka today, who recently voiced frustrations in the Japanese media over differences with the organization on how he should be training and the way its affected his performance this season. Francona said the conversation was a healthy one, pointing out that Matsuzaka made an effort to speak in English, which Francona respected. In the end, Francona, who along with Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell, initially said they were disappointed, made it seem as though the team and the pitcher had come to a better understanding of each other after the conversation. “He made some points to me, which I appreciated,” Francona said. “He understood how we felt, and he was trying to make some points. The points I made to him were, 'Yeah, this is how we felt now where do we go from here.' I think that we had a real good day. The goal of the conversation was to take the emotions out of it and move forward, Francona said. “If you're mad at somebody, or you're disappointed in somebody, sometimes you raise your voice, sometimes you get mad," he said. "Hopefully, when you get take the emotion out of things, then you come up with, ‘How do you make this better?” That's how you always try to approach it and we got there today.” Francona said he gave Matsuzaka a written exercise asking him to list the things that bothered him, so the manager would have a clearer idea. Among the items on the list were pitch counts and mound visits. “Trips to the mound, sometimes he didn't view it like we do,” Francona said. “When John Farrell makes a trip to the mound, we're not trying get in the way of the game, we're trying to help. But if it doesn't help then we want to try and know why." Francona acknowledged that as much as the Red Sox had done to make the transition from Japan to America an easy one for Matsuzaka, that there were some things they couldn’t account for. For instance, neither Matsuzaka nor reliever Hideki Okajima was prepared for the travel, Francona said. “Both of them kind of hit a wall,” he said. There was also the strike zone, significantly different between the two countries. Another subtle but significant difference was the actual American baseball. “You pick up a Japanese baseball, and I think the best word is almost ‘supple,’” Francona said. “You don't need to rub them up. You take it out of the box and go play and it's got a nice feel. That immediately got in the way of his split, and I understand that.” Francona frequently sympathized with Matsuzaka's position. “I don't think it's fair for us to expect him to come to the United States join our team and jump on board when he hasn’t done that his whole life,” he said. “Saying that there are some things that we're not willing to bend on because of health and productivity, and he understands that. I don't know if he fully agrees. If I grew up in a different environment with different training methods I probably would feel the same way, so we're trying to put our heads together and come up with the best of both as opposed to knocking heads.” At the same time, he said there were certain things that the team would be unwilling to bend on. “We do not discourage him from throwing as long as his shoulder can handle it,” Francona said. “He likes that physically, the touch and the feel, the repetition which I understand. He has to be able to handle it or it doesn’t do him any good. He's going to regress. His shoulder's going to be weaker, he's going to go to an area where our medical people know he's asking for trouble.” “So when it gets to that point, we don't let him. We've had to shut him down, we've had to cut his throwing back. We've told him if he shows up and he's in shape and his shoulder's strong then we will not get in the way of his throwing. That’s where we're at with him and he understands that. Now it's his responsibility to be that so he can throw. In all, Francona said, “It was a good step today talking to Dice.” *** Francona gave an update on Tim Wakefield, saying that he threw from 60 feet yesterday, but also saying that there was no timetable for when Wakefield would throw from the mound. “Wake is throwing as tolerated,” Francona said. “Yesterday he was about at 60 feet. We're just not trying to go backwards. It's a little bit slow. He is getting better. We're encouraged I think he is. You guys saw him, he was walking crooked for about a week. I think he’s slowly starting to get better which is good. I don't have a timetable when he'll throw off the mound, but he's doing better." *** Francona offered some inside baseball after last night, when the Sox decision to give up third base to runners played a role in their 9-8 loss. Francona was of the school it was as risky to defend third -- giving up the gap on the left side of the field to hold the runner at second while at the same time covering third -- as it was to let him run, since a single would score most runners from second anyway. “When a guy runs into third uncontested, and the crowd ooos and ahhs like we haven't paid attention and they fooled us – there’s times when we elect not to do that. And that makes sense. “There's a lot of different things that we think about that actually is kind of fun to think about during the game that doesn’t ever get noticed, but it's just interesting. A lot of conversation goes on in the dugout about why.” http://tinyurl.com/mvrl4c Francona: 'This will blow over' During his weekly appearance on the WEEI's "The Dale and Holley Show" this afternoon, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he spoke to Daisuke Matsuzaka this morning and said that while he remains disappointed by the pitcher's comments blaming the club for his struggles, the controversy will "blow over." Regarding Matsuzaka revealing details of what was said in a recent closed-door meeting, Francona said, "We were disappointed. I think we felt like it was a meeting that [had] a lot of information that needed to happen. It's not always hugs and giggles, and there's a strong personalities. I think we felt a little bit like he betrayed our trust a little bit. "Now, saying that . . . I talked to Daisuke again today on the way to the ballpark and explained to him how this is going to work. And the thing I said is, not everybody is perfect . . . we all make mistakes. What is important is how we move on after we make those mistakes. He was actually great. I think he owned up to the fact that he made the mistake. I think it transpired a little bit differently than I understood at the time. I don't think he ran out of here and ran to somebody and vented. I think it was a little bit different. Regardless, it still happened and we were kind of agitated, but I think he's in a pretty good place, actually. This will blow over. My job is to help him get him going to the right place. I think he actually feels like he's in a pretty good place. I know it doesn't sound like it from the interview, but I think he feels pretty good about himself." Francona said there has been a lot of give and take with Matsuzaka since he signed with the club before the 2007 season. "There's been a lot of give and take. There's been a lot of difference of opinions. And certainly we can understand that. I don't think you can expect a guy from a completely different culture, different learning methods, to completely buy into it because we say it. But at the same time, when you come to the United States and play baseball here, there are different rigors, from the schedule to when you're pitching, and we want this guy to hold up over the course of his career." -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 118.160.70.143