FORT MYERS, Fla. — Daisuke Matsuzaka was forced to scratch his scheduled batting practice, in which he was supposed to throw to batters for the first time in spring training, due to a stiff neck. Matsuzaka experienced the stiffness while warming up in bullpen, having thrown just five pitches before stopping.

Matsuzaka had been behind schedule due to a back ailment at the outset of camp, but was tentatively scheduled to pitch in his first spring training game Wednesday, at City of Palms Park against the Mets.

In other news, Mike Lowell and Terry Francona said that the plan is to have Lowell play first base in his spring training debut Monday.

6 Comments for “Stiff neck forces Daisuke to cancel BP session”

1. JMO Says:
   March 13th, 2010 at 1:26 pm

   Jeez Krist, what next…hangnail?! Get RID of this guy. He Obviously doesn’t want to pitch for us. Give him to the Yerkees so that he can go 20-1 and miraculously heal. Back, neck, shoulder, culture, food, language, attitude… get RID of this jerk. We made a mistake, big time bucks. Hurts. But time to accept it and move on. Or he can go back to Japan and be a hero back there again.

2. JHA Says:
   March 13th, 2010 at 4:21 pm

   Never mind go back to Japan, I always thought, that the custom was when a “warrior” or “family member” humiliated themselves it was appropriate to commit “Harri Kari”. In this way he would retain honor and the Red Sox could save some money and hopefully be done with any future Asian pitching experiments. THEY JUST DON’T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. David Hamilton Says:
   March 13th, 2010 at 4:41 pm

   This is ridiculous. This guy is an embarrasment. What is his problem? I wonder when we are going to start reading how ‘unhappy’ he is in Boston, how badly he’s been treated, how he’s not considered “the star,” or “the ace of the staff.” We should have singed Chapman when we had a chance and gotten rid of this spoiled prima donna. Sign as many Cubans as you can, they are proud, hard workers, and play with total soul. Those guys leave their country and families and are thankful to just be in the U.S. and play their hearts out. This guy is obviously going to spoon us another whole year. Four, five games with a 9.65 ERA–letting us know “hey, don’t want to pitch for you!” Be a man, like JHA writes above, and give back the money and go back to Japan where you can pitch to the equivalent of double-A minor leaguers. Jerk.

4. The troll Says:
   March 13th, 2010 at 5:13 pm

   So now the sox want to get rid of this guy because he is injured. Last year was a bust, how about the other 2 years when he won 36 games. Biggest fare weather fans in the majors, Will they be saying that about Lackey when he gets bombed all year?

5. David Hamilton Says:
   March 13th, 2010 at 5:31 pm

   He is not “injured,” he’s a prima donna. You know, like Burnett will be right around May. Lackey is a man and a professional. If anyone is getting bombed it’ll be your new “ace” as he’s welcomed to the American League. Go back to your Yankee rat hole.

6. The troll Says:
   March 14th, 2010 at 6:38 pm

   World champion Yankees. Losers. People used to say after the sox won it all in 2004 that they broke the curse but you know there was no curse, the sox just sucked for 86 years.

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