Baseball: America's National Pastime

For this post, I'm going to take a break from my usual Met update/rant/brag-session , and talk about some other big news in the wonderful world of baseball.

Tonight, Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his Fenway Park debut as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

Matsuzaka, known by the nickname Dice-K, has been the most dominant pitcher in Japan for the past 8 years, and was even named Japan's MVP when they won the annual World Baseball Classic last year. Basically, the guy is a Japanese baseball stud.

It is always interesting to me to see how a foreigner who dominates another league performs in an American professional sports league. Will Dice-K follow in the footsteps of Japanese MLB stars Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, or be another overrated foreign disappointment?

Can Dice-K handle the pressure of the classic Yankee-Red Sox rivalry?

Will he do well in front of the ever-critical (and pain in the ass) Red Sox fan base?

Is he worth the $103 million the Red Sox shelled out to get him, and will he be able to handle the pressure of expectations?

Well, there's no doubt about it: the odds are against him. But hey, if it means beating the Yankees in the ALCS, good luck Dicey.