Matsu-zowie!

Following up on John's post about the high-priced bidding war for Japanese weird-windup pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, it's worth showing a look at Matsuzaka's supposed gyroball. (You get a look at his weird, Hideo Nomo-style slow-motion windup too.) The pitch just looks like a typical but nasty forkball or split-finger fastball, a pitch Roger Clemens rode to success for his last five years in the league, after he'd lost a crucial foot or so on his fastball. But look at the slo-mo second replay. He's not holding the ball with split fingers. He's throwing a kind of quasi-curveball from the looks of it, his fingers imparting sidespin and topspin at once. Can't wait to see this in person -- in Fenway, I hope. (I may live in New York, but the Red Sox love runs deep.)