If I see one worm, I'm not eating another apple again

So, amongst the chaos this morning at the hotel, I found a few minutes to flip on ESPN where The Sports Reporters were weighing in on the Paul Byrd story among other things.

The most ridiculous thing I heard in the opening 10 minutes was from Mitch Albom - I can't confirm this and I'm only relying on my shoddy memory, so I could very well be wrong on who said this - who said that the microscope was on Daisuke Matsuzaka after he signed his monster contract this season.

While I agree that he is seen as the key link to the Red Sox post-season, especially in light of tonight's do or die match up, I refuse to buy into the Sunday morning thesis. In short, the contention was that GMs across the league would be watching tonight as a litmus test on foreign born pitchers, how they handle the big games and whether they are worth the extreme investments.

This is in line with saying that Babe Ruth's switch from pitcher to slugger was such a success that every young arm should be given a bat.

I'm OK with playing up the pressure angle in tonight's game, but to make such a stupid blanket statement was enough to make me turn off the TV. Tonight will provide more information on one thing - whether or not Matsuzaka was worth the money - and not much else.

(Image from CNNSI.com)