The Best Daisuke Matsuzaka On Tuesday Night

I didn’t think there would be a day I would say this, but it was a pleasure watching Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch on Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Dice-K was at his best against the Jays

Normally during Dice-K’s starts I want to punch the television or at least throw my remote at it. The way he nibbles, the fact that every batter has a 3-2 count, and the fact that he is usually only good for five innings drive me nuts. Out of his 86 starts (including playoffs) in the major leagues, I could count the number of times on one hand that all three of these scenarios didn’t happen in one game.

I would say the best game Dice-K ever pitching in a Boston Red Sox uniform prior to Tuesday night was Game 1 of the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays. Dice-K was sharp that night against the Rays, but nothing like he was on Tuesday night.

I am going to venture to say that Tuesday night’s performance against the Blue Jays was his best in a Red Sox uniform. I don’t know if the light bulb finally went on in Dice-K’s head, but in reality, he was the anti-Dice-K against the Jays.

He was aggressive, he had command, and he looked like the guy that was supposed to be the best Japanese born pitcher ever to pitch in the U.S. How aggressive was Dice-K? In the first inning, he threw 17 pitches and 15 of them were fastballs. 15!

Dice-K did something I had never seen him do before — he established his fastball early. Overall, out of 107 pitches, Dice-K threw 81 fastballs.

He used his fourseam fastball the most, throwing that pitch 64 percent of the time. He only used that type of fastball 26 percent of the time the previous start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Dice-K’s pitching line for the evening: Seven innings, three hits, one run, zero walks, and nine strike outs. Like I said, I hope this was the “light blub” game for Dice-K. The game that teaches him that he doesn’t have to nibble and he can trust that his stuff is good enough to get major league hitters out.

I hope this is the case. I really don’t feel like buying a new remote control every time he pitches.

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