Holy cow it's killing me not to talk about the Red Sox and the potential deal with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. I've been itching to write about this for weeks now. But I don't want to jinx a potential deal, so I'm gonna keep quiet.
Instead I'll talk a little about lefthanded pitcher Hideki Okajima that the Sox signed from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Yes, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Apparently the team is owned by the Nippon Ham meat-packing company.
It's kind of like if HoneyBaked Ham bought the Kansas City Royals and renamed them the Kansas City HoneyBaked Ham Royals.
Kinda.
Anyway, I don't know much about Hideki, but I did find out that during the 1980's the Fighters wore bright orange and yellow uniforms. That's hot. The team now has blue pinstripes - but their mascot, Flighty the Fuzzy Pterodactyl is still fluorescent pink.
Doesn't "Flighty the Fuzzy Pterodactyl" sound like something Homer Simpson would make up?
Like his line from Marge vs. the Monorail about the possums who live in the monorail, "I call the big one 'Bitey'."
Anyway, Red Sox. Hmm. Not going to talk about Matsuzaka. Nope. Not even going to entertain the possible trade of Manny Ramirez, either.
But one rumor I have to talk about - closer Eric Gagné.
I know he's had elbow, back, and every-other surgery in the last three years, but I saw him close against the Yankees back in LA in 2004 and he was just lights out.
The Dodgers use to flash this big "GAME OVER" on the jumbotron when he would come in. The place was a zoo.
Imagine what would happen at Fenway when he came in to close?
Too bad Schilling is already #38 ...
See, there I go, getting too excited about rumors already. Can't even think about Matsuzaka yet. Nope. Not yet.
Oh, it's cool we got JD Drew and Julio Lugo, too. I can't wait for Matsuzaka or Gagné ... oh man ...
