Daisuke Matsuzaka had a poor start in Texas on Friday night and like many professional athletes came up with an excuse to try and explain away his play. He was suffering from stomach illness, a popular standby, he told reporters. Where it gets interesting, however, is when Dice-K talked about how he got sick. It wasn't bad clams or someone tampering with his food, no for Matsuzaka the culprit was a dirty carpet in his hotel room.
“Well, it could be something to do with my sleeping arrangements,” he said. “I haven’t slept on the bed. Instead of doing so, I bring my own mattress and put it down (on the floor and sleep on it). So maybe dust and other things could have contributed a little bit, too. I didn’t want to do so but I thought that would be better for my back than sleeping on the hotel bed.”
Matsuzaka acknowledged he must overcome cultural difference.
“It is different from Japan,” he said. “People (here) keep their shoes on and that is how it is. I will give more thinking to it for our next trip.”
Matsuzaka also told reporters that he'd come up with a solution for the next time he's faced with a mattress that's too soft for his liking but chose not to share it because "he preferred not to have people wondering or imagining how he looked while he slept." I imagine he sleeps with a stuffed Hello Kitty doll while wearing footie pajamas with a pattern of hermit crabs and eyeshades shielding him from the sunlight. Here's hoping that image doesn't cause the righthander any undue agitation.
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