The Boston Red Sox's $103 million Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka has a lot of big expectations on his shoulders as he enters the big leagues this year.

While he has had an impressive spring training to date he struggled yesterday allowing two home runs and having problems with his control.

Hideo Nomo started off his career fast with the Dodgers before fading. Nomo was 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA his first season but finished with a career 4.21 ERA. How will the latest Japanese pitching import do in his rookie season? Will he be another Hideki Irabu? Irabu busted into the big leagues in 1997 with a 7.09 ERA his rookie year.

What will 2007 bring for Dice K and the Red Sox? You can count me in as a believer. At least for his rookie year. We'll see if he has a Nomo like drop off in 2008 and beyond but for now enjoy the ride!

Check out this video of Dice K's infamous Gyroball:

Labels: Dice K, gyroball

Hello everybody and welcome to my first of many posts here on Big Show Baseball. I am happy to have the opportunity to blog about the greatest sport ever created. I hope you all enjoy the site.

Now, I am going to get something out of the way right off the bat so there is no confusion. I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan. That means that from time to time, I may get a little excited about another Albert Pujols walk off home run or a Chris Carpenter trip to the mound that turned into a ten strikeout, complete game masterpiece. But I am not going to go Bill Simmons on you and write about the Cardinals every single post. On top of that, when in an argument, I usually do not let the Cardinal red blind me to numbers and facts.

For instance, I am not one of those Cardinals fans that think Albert Pujols was completely robbed in the MVP voting last year. That vote could have gone either way and I believe Ryan Howard deserved it just as much as Albert Pujols. Besides, as a fan, I'll take a World Series championship over Albert Pujols winning an MVP any day.

But enough about the Cardinals. The upcoming baseball season is going to be a great one. The Barry Bonds home run chase is probably the most anticipated event of the summer for some and the least anticipated event of the summer for others. The arrival of Daisuke Matsuzaka and his famous (and possibly not even real) gyroball to Boston has been one of the hottest offseason topics and promises to be one of the biggest stories of 2007. As usual, the national media will focus a very trained eye on New York and Alex Rodriguez and his struggles. Will the Cardinals be able to repeat as champions and become the first team to win two titles in this decade? And of course, where will the steroid scandal lead us next?

The answers to these questions and many others can only be answered throughout the season. We hope you enjoy following the 2007 Major League Baseball season here at Big Show Baseball. Here is to another great season of baseball.

--Ryan Reynolds

Labels: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Chris Carpenter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, gyroball, Ryan Howard, St. Louis Cardinals, steroids