Dice-K Dominates Lowly Indians
By Brian Phair
The Red Sox continue their tour through the AL basement in Cleveland, Ohio. After taking 2 out of 3 from the lowly Baltimore Orioles this past weekend, the Sox traveled to take on the 21-34 Indians for a 4-game set at Jacobs Field. Monday night’s game 1 was dominated by the $100 million man, Daisuke Matsuzaka, as he hurled 8 shutout innings on route to a 4-1 Red Sox victory. Dice-K is finally beginning to prove his value in the rotation, but was his performance a true sign of things to come?
Over his past 4 starts, Dice-K has gone 3-1 and lowered his ERA from an abysmal 7.89 to a solid 4.59. Over that span of games, Dice-K had 5+ strikeouts 3 times and had 2 impressive 8-inning shutout performances (May 22nd against the Philadelphia Phillies and Monday night against the Cleveland Indians). In his last 4 games, Dice-K has given up 6 earned runs on 1 home run and has walked 14 batters, including a ludicrous 8 hitters on May 27th against Kansas City, which surprises no one. The good news has been his high strikeout numbers (18) over that span, with pitch counts around 110+ in each contest.
If this trend continues and Dice-K can keep opponents to 3 or less runs and pitch 6+ innings each time out, he could finish the season with 15+ wins and finally begin to justify his over-inflated salary. As we have seen over the past several years however, Dice-K is prone to strains, pulls and other injuries that sideline him for an extended period of time, so 15+ wins still seems a ways away.
Regardless of my internal pessimist when it comes to the Japanese wonder boy, the Sox are getting strong pitching when the need it the most. After Josh Beckett went on the DL, the Sox staff quickly filled in the gap and have been not only holding their own most nights, but producing strong results, allowing the potent Sox offense to back them with their bats. Clay Buchholz has been outstanding all season and Jon Lester has returned to his dominating form after a shaky beginning to the season.
It is my sincere hope that Dice-K will finally consistently take the mound and produce strong results and all indications are pointing up for him at this point. If he stays healthy and is truly (finally) committed to the Sox training program, Dice-K could be a solid #3 or #4 starter down the stretch and (hopefully) into the playoffs. Keep your fingers crossed.