Daisuke Matsuzaka Pitches Gem, Fans Confused

As I was listening to yesterday’s Red Sox game, I had to stop and pinch myself. For a period of time, I honestly thought I was dreaming. Daisuke Matsuzaka was aggressively hitting the corners of the strike-zone and quickly and quietly disposing of hitters. As each inning passed, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A showdown with Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers hardly seemed like a fair match-up at the onset, but boy was I wrong. The result was a masterful (Spring) pitcher’s duel that resulted in 5 of the best innings Dice-K has thrown in a long time. Is this a sign of things to come, or just another one of those ‘if he pitched like that on a regular basis he could be great’ moments?

My instinct, and the instinct of thousands, if not millions, of Red Sox fans is that Dice-K’s performance on Tuesday was an isolated event. Impressive, but not something we should expect on a regular basis. On the other hand, maybe Dice-K has finally turned a corner with new pitching coach Curt Young. Young changed around Dice-K’s work in-between starts, splitting his long-toss and bullpen sessions. He now does each activity on a different day, not all at one time. It certainly can’t hurt to change around his routine, because clearly it wasn’t working before when he would drop stink bombs all over the field.

I’m not saying Dice-K is magically going to be incredible in 2011, nor am I saying I think he has really, truly turned a corner with 1 Spring outing, but sometimes all it takes to turn around a pitcher’s career is a new approach, which in this case is a new coach. Cliff Lee is a great example of that transformation. He was a highly touted prospect, but lacked command, which led to his early career struggles. He had a 4.64 era with the Cleveland Indians from 2002-2007, allowing 3.1 BBs per game. Sound familiar? Lee was always close to being great, but injuries and ‘dead arm’ issues kept him from being great. Then, before the 2008 season, Lee spent a few days with pitching coach Carl Willis in North Carolina.

Willis helped Lee realize he was getting impatient and losing mental focus on the mound, leading to reduced command. Willis worked with Lee closely that Spring and kablam, he was an ace pitcher. Once Lee gained the mental focus, his command fell into place, and he began the 2008 season with a 6-0 record and a 0.81 ERA in 6 starts. He ended up winning the Cy Young that season and his career path turned from forgotten starter to a path to greatness. I do not expect Dice-K to reach the level of Lee, but the stories seem to have some intriguing parallels, at least on the surface. Both were considered to have great potential in the bigs, but just couldn’t get past command issues. Lee figured it out, now it is Dice-K’s turn.

After I realized I wasn’t dreaming listening to Tuesday’s Sox game, I began to think to myself about the potential of this Red Sox starting rotation. The major wild-card has always been Dice-K, so if he can develop into a solid arm, this is the deepest rotation in baseball. We all know how good Jon Lester can be and Clay Buchholz proved he is not far behind in 2010. Josh Beckett is a monster and there is nothing to indicate he won’t have a bounce-back season this year. John Lackey will likely improve on his 2010 numbers, but as a #4 starter, even a repeat of his 14-11 record last year wouldn’t be so bad. The Sox have 5 legitimate arms as of now, all of which have the potential to be great.

Having potential and realizing that potential are clearly 2 separate things, but this Red Sox staff is looking better by the day. Will we see a strong year from the $100 million man? Your guess is as good as mine, but Tuesday’s outing was 1 of Dice-K’s best in a Red Sox uniform.

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