But did he throw a gyroball? http://www.oxfordpress.com/sports/content/shared/sports/stories/2007/BBO_MARLINS_0307_COX.html By TOM D'ANGELO Cox News Service Wednesday, March 07, 2007 JUPITER, Fla. — Jason Stokes insists he saw it. Joe Borchard described it, but wasn't sure what it was. So the legend of the gyroball grows — if there is a gyroball. No batter has ever claimed to see the mystifying pitch supposedly thrown by Boston Red Sox phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka. Even Matsuzaka, the Japanese superstar known as Dice-K off the pronunciation of his first name, is vague about the pitch. But Tuesday, in Matsuzaka's first game against a major-league team, he just might have delivered a pitch with a dash of Wasabi. "I saw the gyroball,'' said Stokes, the Marlins' first baseman who was one of three strikeout victims in Matsuzaka's three shutout innings of Boston's 14-6 win at Roger Dean Stadium. Stokes, a minor leaguer for the past six years, said Matsuzaka gripped the ball like a two-seam fastball, then let loose an unusual pitch. "It's like a split-finger — downward angle, maybe runs in a little bit," said Stokes, who took the pitch for a 3-2 count before striking out on a slider. Stokes' revelation stirred up the Matsuzaka media mob — about 100 Japanese journalists who descended on Roger Dean along with a partisan Red Sox crowd of 8,044 to watch Dice-K throw 47 pitches, including 31 for strikes, and allow two hits and one walk. The gyroball was created on a computer by a Japanese baseball trainer, who projected the path and movement of the pitch that Matsuzaka is said to sometimes use. Some say the gyroball acts like a change-up and dips away from right-handed batters. Others say it's more like a slider with an abrupt turn and dip. The consensus is it's a little of both, but everyone agrees that the pitch spins sideways. "I saw a pitch with that kind of rotation," Stokes confirmed. Borchard walked in his one at-bat against Matsuzaka and described two pitches that were sort of like change-ups, but not really. Could they have been gyroballs? "What is a gyroball?'' Borchard repled. Given a brief description, Borchard said that Matsuzaka "had some good movement,'' on the pitches. Then, as if he were a confused camper asked one more time about a possible Big Foot sighting, Borchard surmised that, yes, he might have seen a gyroball or two. On the subject of Matsuzaka's more mundane pitches, Borchard called the 6-foot, 190-pound right-hander's fastball "sneaky'' and his slider "sharp.'' Gyroball or not, Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla is a believer. "He's definitely got the ability to be a dominant pitcher," said Uggla, who became the first major-leaguer to get a hit off Matsuzaka, a first-inning single on a 1-2 count. "He's got the stuff. He's got the command." Matsuzaka pitched out of a jam in the second inning after John Gall's double put Marlins on second and third. Scott Seabol then struck out on a slider and Eric Reed popped out to first on a bunt attempt. "This being my first year, I'm trying to focus on if I allow a runner to get on base to keep them there and not allow them to score," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek liked what he saw in Dice-K's debut. "He's progressing like all the other pitchers," Varitek said. "He made some really good pitches, threw some good sliders." But did he throw a gyroball? Tom D'Angelo writes for the Palm Beach Post. -- 在奇怪的时刻突然想写blog http://chordate.blogspot.com/ --

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