Thursday, 4:30 PM
Hub all abuzz over high-priced Japanese pitcher
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
There was palpable excitement Wednesday on a stretch of Beacon Street near Fenway Park, where the local bakery serves Japanese delicacies, lunch menus are heavy on sushi and the wine shop stocks 37 types of sake.
The news that the Olde Towne team might secure 26-year-old Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka triggered an enthusiastic buzz that spread throughout Red Sox Nation, with fans debating whether he could pull the team out of its two-season slump, whether the price would be too high and whether his nickname should be "D-Mat," "Haz-Mat" or "the Gun from the Rising Sun." But fans in this particular sliver of the city, there was an additional factor of pride.
"We're crazy about it!" gushed Kaz Uemura, a 27-year-old sushi chef at Ginza who came to Boston from Osaka, Japan, six years ago. He said he pays attention to the Red Sox now, but if Matsusaka signed he would be an ardent fan and that the acquisition would surely boost devotion to the Sox in Boston's Japanese American community.
Over Sapporo beer and tempura, diners at the restaurant chatted excitedly about the prospect of one of the best players in Japan could soon be taking the mound in Boston. Many ticked off Major League players from Japan. Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees are two standouts. That's just what the Red Sox need right now, some said.
The Red Sox outbid other major league teams this week for the chance to sign Matsuzaki and have until Dec. 15 to reach a deal. The team will have to pay the Seibu Lions $51.1 million if they are successful.
Team Manager Terry Francona, who appeared yesterday at a middle school in Lunenberg to talk about the value of math, would not elaborate on the recruiting effort, but said, "That's gonna be big math."
