Matsuzaka is set to dive in
Daisuke Matsuzaka's brief major league career has been a baseball crescendo.
With each start comes a bigger challenge.
His major league debut came in a perfect place -- low-key Kansas City. He graduated to a little bit better opponent in his Fenway Park debut vs. Seattle, butting heads with Felix Hernandez, who threw a one-hitter. From there it was on to Rogers Centre in Toronto, his first experience with a decent American League East lineup (though the Jays were without Troy Glaus and Reed Johnson), and took a tough 2-1 loss.
Tonight . . . drumroll, please . . . the Yankees.
Matsuzaka may benefit because the Yankees are banged up.
There are questions about whether he'll see Johnny Damon (back), and he won't face Jorge Posada (thumb), or Hideki Matsui (hamstring), who is still missing from baseball's best lineup. But even with the absentees, Matsuzaka will face his stiffest test. The Yankees like to look at a lot of pitches, and you can bet they will be waiting out his full assortment of fastballs, breaking balls, sliders, and splits.
But it's also important that Matsuzaka doesn't leave his fastball out over the plate, as he's done at times.
Yankee management coveted Matsuzaka in the offseason, but New York ($30 million) finished third in the posting behind the Mets ($39 million) and Red Sox ($51.1 million).
The Sox' signing of Matsuzaka prompted the Yankees to respond by posting the highest bid ($26 million) for Hanshin Tigers lefty Kei Igawa, who was 9-13 with a 2.67 ERA last season, in hopes he will emerge as a fourth or fifth starter.
"We're very curious to see how we're going to do against him," said Yankees manager Joe Torre. "I've seen him pitch on TV and he looks as if he really knows how to pitch. He's the real deal.
"We have a good lineup and he's a good pitcher. We haven't seen him and he hasn't seen us, so we're on even ground that way. Obviously, we had a lot of interest in him over the winter and we didn't come up with him. Boston did. They did a great job."
The move gave the Red Sox three top-notch starters in Matsuzaka, Curt Schilling, and Josh Beckett. They thought they would have a fourth in Jonathan Papelbon until there was no choice but to return him to the bullpen. If the Yankees had gotten Matsuzaka, they would have had a formidable group also, with Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, and Chien-Ming Wang.
In a way, in getting Dice-K, the Red Sox did to the Yankees what the Yankees did to the Sox when they signed Damon. It was also the reverse of the outcome of the pursuit of Jose Contreras in the offseason of 2002. The Yankees edged Boston for the coveted Cuban righthander, but New York turned out to be the wrong place for Contreras, who wound up thriving when he landed with the White Sox.
In the winter, when it was learned that Matsuzaka was going to be posted by the Seibu Lions, he was asked during one news conference where he would like to land, and he mentioned the Yankees, since they were the most popular team in Japan.
Since arriving in Boston, he's been peppered on the Boston-New York rivalry. The big story in Japan upon Matsuzaka's signing with the Sox was the rivalry within the rivalry, of the great Matsuzaka vs. Matsui, that would enthrall the Japanese audience.
Unfortunately, that will have to wait a week, as Matsui comes off the disabled list tomorrow.
"He's certainly not lived through it," said Sox manager Terry Francona, regarding the Sox-Yankees. "My first year, I think I did all the right things. I had no idea. I don't think anyone does until they live through that.
"Saying that, he's pitched a lot of professional games. He's been the center of attention and this certainly won't overwhelm him from what I've seen. He enjoys immensely things like this. He'll be just fine."
Matsuzaka is 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA. He has struck out 10 batters in two of his three games. He came unglued a bit in the fourth inning in Toronto last Tuesday night when he allowed three walks and two hits in a two-run uprising. It was an inning in which Julio Lugo failed to come up with a ball many thought could have been a double play and gotten Matsuzaka out of trouble. Nevertheless, he did have a mini meltdown, even disagreeing with the umpire on a pitch.
"I don't think we've seen his best yet," Francona said. "Once he's logged some innings and gets completely comfortable and gets command of all his pitches, he's a good pitcher.
"What I really like about him is there's a lot of things on the periphery with him that could bother a lot of people. He just kind of smiles and moves on, answers the questions he needs to, and prepares to be a good pitcher and makes it that much easier on the rest of us."
ESPN analyst Peter Gammons had a 45-minute discussion with Matsuzaka this weekend. They used an interpreter, but Gammons said Matsuzaka seemed to understand some of the questions, a sign that he could be learning the language rapidly.
Matsuzaka's assimilation into American (and Boston) culture has appeared seamless.
He sits alongside countryman Hideki Okajima in the clubhouse at home and on the road. There appears to be a comfort level developing. And it doesn't hurt that Okajima has turned into a pretty decent find, retiring Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning Friday night to record his first major league save.
Tonight, it's Dice-K's turn. The next challenge, and the biggest so far: conquering the Yankees. 