{"id":711,"date":"2007-07-01T18:14:11","date_gmt":"2007-07-01T18:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beta.mbtn.net\/?p=711"},"modified":"2013-11-30T18:15:36","modified_gmt":"2013-11-30T18:15:36","slug":"kaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=711","title":{"rendered":"Kaz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Tonight the Mets travel to Denver to take on the Rockies and second baseman\u00a0Kaz Matsui,<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0who missed the first series at Shea this year due to (what else) back spasms.<\/p>\n

I just might be a softie but I\u2019ve always felt bad for how poorly things went in New York for Matsui. The organization completely biffed the entire acquisition, unnecessarily installing him at shortstop while they already had a popular, accomplished and exciting incumbent there, then leaving Matsui at short to become a target of fan abuse when it was obvious he lacked the range of the man he displaced. Frequent injuries \u2014 a source of frustration for fans and his manager \u2014 followed and when it was clear that\u00a0Jose Valentin<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was a better bet to serve out the year than Matsui the Mets anxiously shipped him to the Rockies, along with all the money they\u2019d need to pay him, for washed-up reserve\u00a0Eli Marrero.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Alas, Matsui\u2019s good health has accompanied strong performance this year, as has a switch back to the\u00a0No. 7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0jersey he wore in Japan. (Here the Mets let Matsui have\u00a0Jose Reyes\u2019<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>position and batting-order slot but not his jersey). Matsui discusses his number, and other stuff in this\u00a0interview with MLB.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pertinent breakout:<\/p>\n

You wore No. 7 in Japan, but it wasn\u2019t available when you came to the U.S. You wore 25 with the Mets and 16 with the Rockies last season \u2014 in both cases, the digits added up to seven. Why No. 7?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I became a professional in Japan, I liked 1, 3, 5 and 7. But 1, 3 and 5 were unavailable. The No. 7 at that point, a guy, Darin Jackson, went back to the U.S., so I told them I wanted his No. 7.<\/p>\n

Is wearing your favorite number making you play better?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about that. But I like No. 7.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other Met news,\u00a0Mike Pelfrey 34<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was recalled yesterday, and lost again, when\u00a0Jorge Sosa 29<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0hit the disabled list with a hamstring pull. Reports this morning made it seem likely that\u00a0Oliver Perez 46<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0would miss a start this week too with back spasms, a scenario likely to result in the return of\u00a0Jason Vargas 43<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0from the minors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight the Mets travel to Denver to take on the Rockies and second baseman\u00a0Kaz Matsui,\u00a0who missed the first series at Shea this year due to (what else) back spasms. I just might be a softie but I\u2019ve always felt bad for how poorly things went in New York for Matsui. The organization completely biffed the … Continue reading “Kaz”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[135],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-kaz-matsui"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}