The K-Zone ~ 12 April 2007

In baseball, the K-Zone is the area of the plate in which a strike can be recorded, thus leading to three of those in an at bat or a strike out (code designated as a “K”) - one of the primary criteria that regulates the worth of pitchers. The Boston Red Sox rolled the K-Dice on the value of pitching; during the off-season the Red Sox won rabid negotiations and competitive dealings all in the interest of signing a Japanese pitching phenom known as Dice K. That was a 6-year deal worth $52 Million! When you read and hear all the fuss about Diasuke Matsuzaka, it could remind a pundit of the words from a song in Jesus Christ Superstar, “What's the fuss? Tell me what's a-happening.”

Dice K’s first start secured the sensation with a tally in the win column. In that start he struck out ten batters in seven innings - a phenomenal stat worthy of phenom status. To boot, he won his highly touted premiere start. So far, so good. Then comes the second game of the season. Dice K goes up against King Felix of the Seattle Mariners. King Felix simply put away the Oakland A’s in his first start. Compared to Dice K, his start was better. Still, Dice K maintains the center of the microscope, all the hype and the truly big bucks. It’s showdown time.

Dice K, a Virgo as are precision pitchers Randy Johnson, Rollie Fingers, appears to be one lucky S.O.B. With a Jupiter-Sun conjunction in Virgo, a pitcher working the precision angle over the power angle which also appeases natal Saturn, also in Virgo. Given practice, discipline and a deaf ear to criticism, he’ll rock the baseball world. Dang that deaf ear thing. With Mercury in Libra, the ear positions toward social/professional acceptance statements. Without an accurate birth time for the horoscope it’s tough to tell if Dice K has a Libran Moon as well. If so, his feelings would get hurt with remarkable ease and the reactions would taint his Mars in Scorpio. Still, that same Mars square to Venus and Leo remains a huge charisma consideration, securing the well wishes of fans over pundits.

Given Jupiter to the Sun natally, the Boston fans hope and pray that Dice K can stay immune to the hype pressure. This year, Jupiter, while square his Sun sign, the square stays out of orb through the baseball season. When the season commences next year, the tense Jupiter aspects will have passed. Next season as Uranus in Pisces begins to oppose his Sun, batters will have adjusted to him somewhat; he must adjust back. Uranus proposes developing a new pitch to add to his arsenal, preferably something with a funky spin. That’s what’s a-happening.

Yesterday, the fateful first meeting of King Felix and Dice K played out in Bean Town. The King reigned supreme, shutting out the Red Sox and besting his highly-touted mound rival, 3 zip. As we close out the second week of the young season, King Felix is 2 - 0, with an ERA of 0.00 and 18 K’s in 17 innings; in short, spectacular. K Dice has a 1 - 1 record with an ERA of 2.57 and 14 K’s in as many innings far more than respectable; in fact any team would beg to have him (and if they paid his salary they might end up beggars).

My money’s on King Felix to have the better year. This year he’ll have Jupiter square Jupiter in varying conditions (retrograde and direct) July through September. But if he applies his natal Mercury and Jupiter in Pisces, he can muddle a batter’s thinking process and spin their “pitch guessing” into the Twilight Zone of weak ground balls, harmless pop ups and K’s. Why would his Jupiter square play out better that Dice K’s? When Jupiter in Sagittarius squares his natal Jupiter, it aligns with the discipline of his birth Saturn. Should he go for placement over power (the theme of this year’s Season Opener chart), his Aries guts go for determination instead of strength. In the off season, roughly during the time of Cy Young voting, King Felix has the surprise outcome aspects. He might just beat out Johann Santana for the Cy Young in the American League; and that would be quite the surprise.

The National League is not void of gutsy young pitchers with great “stuff.” Consider rookie Micah Owings of the Arizona Diamondbacks (oops, I mean D-Backs). This youngster pitched his second game of the season last night. Like K Dice, he’s 1 - 1 and one strike out per inning thrown (11K in 11 innings). Besting the Red Sox phenom, Micah comes out of his two starts with a paltry and desirable ERA of 1.59.

Of these three pitchers, Owings best fits the theme of the 2007 Season Opener. With four planets in keep them off balance Libra and Venus in pin point control, Virgo, his style of pitching stands out as intelligent and savvy rich. In both his starts, Owings ran into a few tough innings. Did he panic? Nope. Did his body language sag? Not hardly. His Mars-Uranus conjunction prevailed by throwing the unexpected, changing pitch speed and maintaining his solar consciousness in Libra of in/out, up down location. For my money, Owings has the stuff to be a noteworthy pitcher for not only this season, but many years to come.

Oh yeah, Randy Johnson will be back on the mound soon in Arizona. Johnson, last year’s Cy Young winner, Brandon Webb, Livan Hernandez, and two upstarts: Owings and Edgar Gonzalez. It’s not just the new Sedona Red uniforms that becomes the D’Backs.

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