When Daisuke Matsuzaka Pitches, Everyone Gets Tired

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

I can understand the Red Sox blaming Dice-K Matsuzaka's poor pitching on "arm fatigue." Due to eye fatigue, mental fatigue, and emotional fatigue, I had switched off the TV about halfway through his lone inning of work Tuesday night.

But that's not new for me: I can't stand to watch him pitch. Or Tim Wakefield, either, for that matter.

I call them "anti-pitchers" since neither has any idea where the pitch is going and rarely hits the catcher's target.

Wakefield, you can forgive, since his knuckler can break any which way and is effective for that reason. The hitter doesn't know where the ball is going to end up, and neither does the catcher or even the umpire.

That's how knuckleballers survive, and that's why hitters, catchers, umpires, and purist fans like me all hate them.

But there is no excuse for the way Dice-K pitches. Or rather, there is just one: He overthrows his fastball and cannot control it.

Could this problem be fixed? Sure, and easily, too: Put a little more rhythm in his windup and deduct a mile or two from his effort. Bingo, problem solved.

It's doubtful that he'll ever go for that, though, even if his coaches point it out to him. He's always "pitched backwards," as his catcher, Jason Varitek, once said.

The idea has been that he does so on purpose, but I don't think that's correct. He pitches "backwards" because he can't hit the catcher's target with the most basic pitch in the game.

Yes, he was 18-3 last year, doing his death-defying, high-wire act inning after inning, throwing 100-plus pitches over five innings game after game.

But if Dice-K's first two starts this season are any indication, major league hitters are starting to think a little "backwards," too.

And this is going to be a much bigger problem for Dice-K than just a little "arm fatigue." After seeing him for two seasons, opposing teams know that when he has to throw a strike he will invariably throw something off-speed.

This season, the hitters are ready. 

Let's see: When a pitcher no longer has a reliable fastball...hey, maybe Wakefield will teach Dice-K the knuckleball?

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