Royals silenced by motion, commotion

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Royals had seen their quiet place in the baseball landscape turned upside down for nearly a week in anticipation of Daisuke Matsuzaka's major league debut as Japanese photographers and reporters swarmed the landscape. When it was over yesterday, they were glad they could go back to their bit of solitude but had a better understanding of what all the hype was about.

"I'm just happy it's over and they're out of town," said Kansas City right fielder Mark Teahen, after Dice-K turned in a sterling performance in Boston's 4-1 win yesterday. "I'm just happy we're getting back to two or three reporters and back to the quiet that we have here. It was quite a thing the past few days."

Deep down, the Royals knew there was no way to really prepare for Matsuzaka. They had video of his performances and scouting information up to their eyeballs, but there was nothing they could have done, with the exception of David DeJesus.

The Royals' leadoff man had a pair of hits, including a home run, off the Japanese ace.

"I'll tell you," said former Red Sox pitcher Mike Boddicker, now a Royals broadcaster, "he is everything he was billed to be. He knows how to pitch. He knows how to elevate the fastball to make guys chase and he can get his breaking ball over any time he wants."

What especially impressed Boddicker was Matsuzaka's ability to vary the pauses in his delivery.

"Amazing. His pauses aren't all the same," he said. "If you're up there as a hitter, you don't know when he's going to deliver the ball. It's really tough. I don't know if in time the league will be able to figure that out, but for now, geez, that's hard for a hitter to figure out."

The one sequence that really stood out for Boddicker was Ryan Shealy's at-bat in the seventh, when "he knocked him off the plate, and then he popped another fastball that froze him. It totally confused him. You could see it in Ryan's face."

Everyone sees Matsuzaka a little differently. Pitching coach John Farrell said Dice-K reminds him of David Cone. Boddicker said he has some traits of Hideo Nomo.

"He has tremendous poise," said Boddicker. "He allowed a single in the first inning to [DeJesus]. No problem. He said to himself, 'This is no big deal, I'll get out of it.' You can see that on the mound. You can tell he's pitched in tough situations, in big events, and that he faced good competition because nothing fazed him."

Royals catcher John Buck probably paid Dice-K the highest compliment by calling him a No. 1 pitcher. That was after watching Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett. Do the Sox have three No. 1s?

"He can do the things that No. 1s do," said Buck. "He can throw any of his pitches behind in the count. He can be behind and come back and strike you out or get you to swing at a bad pitch. He's a No. 1. He's got No. 1 stuff. That's for sure."

There was not only the deception in his delivery and pitch sequence, but according to Royals shortstop Tony Pena Jr., Dice-K pitched differently to him each time he faced him.

"In my first at-bat, he mixed it up, [he threw] just about everything at me," he said. "And the second time he threw me all fastballs with a cutter, a two-seamer or whatever it is."

Throughout his effort, Matsuzaka was being matched almost pitch for pitch by Kansas City's Zack Greinke, another great story. Kansas City's first pick in 2002 missed last season after battling depression and social anxiety.

Greinke is now on medication and is thriving again. The Red Sox scouted Greinke in spring training and rated him as one of the top pitchers in the Cactus League. They hoped they'd be able to score a run or two against him and that Dice-K would do the job. They got their wish.

"I never got caught up in the [Dice-K] hype," Greinke said. "Except for being asked about it five times a day. I tried to focus on what I had to do rather than watch Matsuzaka, but I was very impressed. It was almost as if he was better to watch on TV so you could see the movement on his pitches rather than being at the ballpark. He's kind of slow out there -- kind of boring -- but when you watch him on video, it's really quite a show he puts on."

Throughout the game there was the potential Rookie of the Year confrontation between Matsuzaka and Alex Gordon, the George Brett wannabe. Gordon went 1 for 3 against Matsuzaka, including his first career hit, a fifth-inning single.

Gordon realized that after Schilling and Beckett made him look silly, getting a hit off Matsuzaka was pretty special. It was Matsuzaka who retrieved the ball and threw it to Jason Varitek so Gordon, who had gone 0 for 8 to start the season, could have his memento.

Did he see the gyroball?

"I don't think so," Gordon said, "I didn't see anything I hadn't seen before, but he's got three or four pitches that he can throw for strikes any time he wants. He's got a good fastball that he can locate."

The Royals said they saw the ball better after a couple of at-bats and the feeling was that in time, hitters will be able to pick up the ball quicker coming out of Dice-K's hand. But who knows whether that will apply the next time they face him. The Royals appeared ill-prepared yesterday because whatever Matsuzaka showed advance scouts in spring training, he wasn't revealing yesterday. Which also shows how savvy Matsuzaka is.

The Royals had their best chance to rattle Matsuzaka in the sixth. After DeJesus's homer, Esteban German singled. The rally ended there, however, when Dice-K fanned Teahen looking and Varitek erased German trying to steal. After Emil Brown doubled, Matsuzaka ended the inning by fanning Gordon.

Asked whether he feels Matsuzaka can be a workhorse capable of throwing 120 pitches, Boddicker said, "In Japan they throw a lot so they're used to it. Let's face it, we baby pitchers here in the States. We don't throw as much. I don't think it's going to hurt him. He's not a big guy, but he's very strong and he's mechanically sound. There no reason you can't let him go."

The questions were over.

The Royals now get to breathe a little easier. After dropping two of three to the Red Sox, the American League champion Tigers arrive today. As ominous as that sounds, it's not the stampede that was Daisuke Matsuzaka -- and everyone around him.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.