IS THERE REALLY A MATSUI / MUSSINA CONNECTION?

When Hideki Matsui received his standing ovation in the Bronx on Tuesday night, I got chills.  I’m not sure what it is about this guy, but there is nothing I don’t like about it.  I like his quietness, his smile and I absolutely love the way he mashes the ball when he’s at the plate.  You can’t help but root for the guy even though he’s in a Rays uniform and against my New York Yankees these days.

Godzilla is a Yankee for life and it couldn’t be more evident than when you saw fans applaud him as if to say, “We remember what you did in  the 2009 World Series and we will never forget you Hideki." One thing was strange though, Matsui wore #35. Tuesday night, Twitter was blowing up. I kept reading that Matsui wore #35 because of his “mentor” Mike Mussina.  Now, as you know here at BYB, we love Mussina just as much as Matsui, but something didn’t seem right.  Mussina was Matsui’s mentor? Something was off and I couldn’t put my finger on it. 

After all, I don’t recall Moose and Matsui ever in the same photo together, kind of like Latoya and Michael Jackson.

Luckily I read Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record and I got some clarification, read HERE. According to Caldera:  “Matsui did not ask rookie pitcher Matt Moore for his famous #55 and instead is wearing #35, partly to honor his former manager and mentor Shigeo Nagashima. 

 (In Photo: Shigeo Nagashima)
It also reminds him of former teammate Mike Mussina who wore #35. “Hopefully I can enjoy my career with the kind of performance Mussina left (after),” Matsui said of Mussina exiting the game after his first 20 win season.”

It’s a world of mis-information and sometimes you need to dig. Caldera dug and now we know the true reasoning behind Matsui's #35.  Look, I’m not faulting Mussina, I just never made that connection between Matusi and Mussina. That being said, friendships happen in the clubhouse all the time and who am I to think otherwise, it was just a gut thing.  Look at AJ Burnett and Ivan Nova, apparently they were tight and Nova loves the guy.  We wrote about that in WHY IT'S THE ODD COUPLE.

Bottom line, I hope Matsui has a productive season for the Rays, he and his #35… Let's just hope it's not productive against my New York Yankees, that’s all.

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