Ok, maybe using hyperbole there, as much of this may have derived from the “subjective.”  But to watch a pitcher with as much talent as Daisuke try and paint the corners on nearly every pitch, is definitely frustrating.  There have been many pitchers from the past that come up or over and just don’t turn out to be what their “stuff” indicated they should become.  I guess that would be much more frustrating than watching a pitcher perform pretty well, but running up high pitch counts, and racking up more early exits than most “effective” starters do.  I am not complaining, as watching Matsuzaka exit with one out in the 6th after walking 5, all while giving up only one or two earned runs, probably isn’t as terrible as watching say…Daniel Cabrera.  Cabrera, a supposed hot-head with very good stuff, one whom lights up the radar gun, has been no better than aveerage over his career.  As a whole, Cabrera has been below average.  So I will take Dice-K over him almost any day of the week.

 

     Yet still, my emotions run wild during a Matsuzaka start.  I am at a point where I try not to get TOO caught up in a single game, as it is a very long season (unless of course it is Red Sox-Yankees).  But when Daisuke takes the hill, and pitches well one inning, then walks two the next inning…only to escape.  Then the following inning strikes out two, then lets a few baserunners on after those two outs…It is frustrating.  And I think that some of it is mechanical, but ultimately mental. 

 

     Scout?  No, I am not.  But that does not mean that I cannot see Daisuke deviate from a motion that had been working for five or so innings.  Using last night’s game as an example:  The first inning was rough.  Two quick outs followed by a walk, an infield single, and another walk.  Then Daisuke pulls one of his many “miracles” out of a bag that seems to be full of them…a groundout and the inning is over.  But something happened, the next five innings Daisuke settled in very nicely, hitting the majority of his spots, and walking only a single batter.  Trouble alluded him because he prevented it from doing so.  Funny how that works.  In the seventh though, Matsuzaka seemed to be doing something slightly different mechanically, and all of a sudden his pitches were all over the place.  With a little luck, he escaped trouble once again, but this time he did not avoid getting himself into it.  But what was he doing wrong?  I am sure that if I were to watch video of it, I could pick something up.  But I am no scout, and in a pitchers duel, a gem of a game, I had more important stuff to worry about, to concentrate on.  A win, to be exact. 

 

     This has to be a problem of concentration.  Not repeating the exact same motion, I would assume, is mostly mental.  Unless there was an injury preventing one from doing so.  I used to pitch in high school, only a few actual game innings on the mound, but I never had to worry about a repeated delivery.  I just went out and threw the ball, mixing in my below average circle change, with my below average curveball…and a fastball that wasn’t slow, but wasn’t ever located properly.  I didn’t understand the “logistics” of fastball locating at the age of 16, and was without MLB.TV to watch every night (to learn from the pros).  Anyway, the point I was making is that I never had to go through any of the issues that a lot of pitchers go through.  I never pitched enough to have a coach come tell me to focus because I am straying away from my delivery, nor did I ever establish an exact delivery.  But Dice-K has.  He knows the ins and outs and every little thing that goes on during his delivery (as do his well educated coaching staff).  Yet, time and time again, the ball ends up in the dirt.  Time and time again, the ball ends up a little up, rather than outside where Varitek sets up. 

 

     But again, I am not complaining.  I just want to see Daisuke repeat his mechanics properly, to get the most effectiveness out of his vast repertoire of pitches.  After all, I am a fan.  And he is one of the best pitchers on the team that I cheer for.  The walks, the high pitch counts, they are fixable.  Yet, at this point, it is up to him to put an end to them.  And it is very possible to do this, Daisuke just needs to focus.

 

(Note:  Overall, very good performance by Dice K last night against the Twins, but he still looked a little shaky mechanically, in two of the seven full innings that he pitched, and a little shaky in the beginning of the 8th too).   

     96 pitches and the exit for Daisuke?  Seven innings pitched well, not great, but well enough, and Matsuzaka gets taken out of the game.  I don’t necessarily disagree with it, but I would like to know exactly why Francona did it.  One reason could be that he was surprised Daisuke was semi-efficient, and was glad to take the seven innings and move on.  Once again, the Twins are very impatient, so I wouldn’t look too much into this start.  It was pretty much the same in the beginning, walks, more pitches, opportunities for the Twins.  The Twins actually hit the ball decent off Matsuzaka, they hit some balls hard, and they went the other way, almost with ease it seemed at one point.  But once Daisuke finally settled down, in the last few innings he was awesome.  His pitches appeared to be “crisp,” locating everything perfectly, including that fastball on the outside corner that he sometimes struggles with (fastball in general I mean).  Which leads me to believe that maybe he has to throw all the pitches beforehand, like he did in Japan, to maximize his potential.  I don’t know, but it shouldn’t take four or five innings to get your **** straight.  And what he showed us late in the game, is almost a tease.  If he becomes that pitcher, he will be a bonafide ace, but if he continues to pitch wildy, and run up his pitch count, then he may still have some success, but he simply will not be as good as he could be.  He is the most fascinating pitcher for me to watch personally, but he can also be the most frustrating. 

 

     The second reason Francona may have taken him out, might have been because he didn’t necessarily trust Daisuke in the following inning.  As well as Matsuzaka had pitched down the stretch in this game, he was only a few walks away from creating a problem for either himself, the bullpen, or most importantly, the team.  So Francona may simply have taken him out to bring in someone whom he trusted more than Matsuzaka. 

 

     The other reason they might have removed Dice-K, was simply to limit his pitches.  It kind of goes hand and hand with the first reason, take him out with seven good innings, while limiting his pitch count, hoping that he does not fatigue once again this season.  They have a reliable bullpen, with two very capable arms, and a few other decent options too.  And of course, to elaborate on the second reason, Okajima has not been nearly as effective when he has been brought in with men on base so far in this young season.  So having Okajima start the inning made some sense too. 

 

     Joe Mauer has such a great eye at the plate.  These are the things that one does not see in the statistics.  Sure, I can look at the “pitches per PA.”  But seeing it is something that has always marveled me.  I have gone on before about how I admire what Abreu and Drew are able to do with the strike zone.  And when I have seen Fukudome, he is able to do the same thing.  They have such a great eye of the strike zone, it’s just amazing to me, how they can be so calm, and so aware of it.  It does frustrate me when Drew watches a called third strike go by, if it is clearly a strike that is.  If it’s a questionable call, it hurts a little less, but if it’s a ball, then Drew is right.  I don’t buy that, “It’s too close to take” saying.  If it is a ball then the umpire screwed up.  It is like what Wade Boggs (I think) said when he was on BBTN (This isn’t an exact quote):  These players spend their entire lives learning the strike zone, they aren’t going to relearn the zone for each umpire that wants to express himself by calling balls and strikes with a different mentality. 

Every umpire should be on the same page, they aren’t, but they should be. 

 

     But anyway, Daisuke threw more strikes last night.  And hopefully he continues with more of the same, because there is a difference between a “pretty good” pitcher, and a “GREAT” pitcher.