Bingo
Let’s leave it to Steve Bonner:
I think the larger point is that Matsui is a big time ballplayer. And maybe I’m being simplistic here but I think the visible differneces between the Yankees and Red Sox show up in the way they play. The Yankees are clean cut, quiet, professional and execute fundamentals pretty consistently. The Sox with their dirty grimy persona sometimes come off like they don’t really care. We know that Pedro has a set of rules much like Barry Bonds rules in SF. But we also know that that shit doens’t fly in New York. There’s no come and go as you please, have 3 seasons worth of pinetar in your sideburns attitude with the Yankees. The Yankees don’t make boneheaded careless plays that often and I feel like the Red Sox come up with a “huh? who was supposed to catch that?” moment every time I see them play. Matsui doesn’t do those sorts of things. Take the same sixth inning for example.
In the bottom of the inning, Matsui played a long drive off the wall by Kevin Millar, played the carom perfectly and threw a sniper shot to second to catch Millar trying to stretch his hit. What looked like it might have been a home run off the bat turned into a long out on a very impressive throw, by a very impressive player.
Matsui’s awesome.
But, the bigger point is underscored by the play in the game (forget which one it was) where Millar dropped an easy pop that wasn’t even that far away from where he was playing. He looked like he really didn’t even try. Maybe he misjudged it. Whatever. It reminds me of a little league coach I had, he used to say… “Never backpeddle – turn and run!” And he was right.
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