CDbCommand failed to execute the SQL statement I get an error when trying to load a page occasionally. It appears to have a problem getting the "type" property from a matrix block.

CDbCommand failed to execute the SQL statement: SQLSTATE[HY000]:
General error: 2006 MySQL server has gone away. The SQL statement 
executed was: SELECT `id`, `groupId`, `name`, `handle`, `context`, 
`instructions`, `translatable`, `type`, `settings`
FROM `craft_fields`
WHERE (handle = :handle) AND (context = :context)
ORDER BY `name`. Bound with :handle='type',
:context='matrixBlockType:6'
A 2006: MySQL server has gone away error generally means that (for any number of reasons) the connection between Craft/PHP and the MySQL server has been dropped.

Common causes are from connection timeouts and misconfigured MySQL settings like max_packet_size.

There are lots of debugging tips in the above link from MySQL's official documentation that would be a good place to start.  Additionally you might want to involve your host and let them know what you're seeing.