Old hand, young arm

CLEVELAND - Daisuke Matsuzaka was sitting there motionless.

Almost despondent.

Almost incredulous about how he had let the Red Sox down in a 4-2 loss to the Indians in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series Monday night. He did not speak to anyone. He released only a short statement to the media. He didn't hold his usual pow-wow with the Japanese reporters, who hang on his every word.

Curt Schilling watched from across the room, and while the language barrier makes it very difficult to speak face-to-face and more important heart-to-heart, Schilling knew there was a more systematic approach that he could take. Sure, Matsuzaka needed a pat on the back and a hug, but he also needed a change in his approach to pitching.

So Schilling worked with Matsuzaka yesterday in the bullpen, away from the crowd.

"We talked about pitching," said Schilling before last night's 7-3 loss that left the Sox trailing, 3-1, in the series. "There are things that he has to get better at. For Daisuke to go from being a 15-game winner to a 25-game winner is no big thing. Details. Little details. Paying attention to little things.

"I was just trying to show him five or 10 things I do to keep consistent command of my fastball. That's the only thing holding him back. He has a great curveball, great change, great slider, and when he adds fastball command at both sides of the plate, he's going to be unbeatable.

"It's not going to take one month or two months or three months. He can do it tomorrow."

Schilling wasn't obliged to go out of his way to work with Matsuzaka yesterday. He could have just let events take their course, leaving Matsuzaka's problems in the hands of pitching coach John Farrell and manager Terry Francona.

But Schilling watches his fellow pitchers very closely. He is another pitching coach, with years of experience playing the game. Schilling has been through everything. Sometimes he has pitched as well as anyone who has ever pitched. He's also struggled and had to fight his way out of a slump.

Schilling noticed that Matsuzaka's fastball command is lacking. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Schilling made the point that Matsuzaka throws strikes with his breaking ball, with his changeup and slider, but he's more erratic on the inside and outside part of the plate with his fastball.

When Matsuzaka misses with his fastball, hitters sit on his breaking pitches. In the playoffs, he has gotten too fine with his off-speed stuff and left it over the plate, feeling he needs to throw it for strikes. It becomes a vicious circle that leads pitchers to elevate pitch counts; in Game 3, Matsuzaka was at 101 pitches through 4 2/3 innings. Way too many.

The way things are set up, Matsuzaka would be the Sox' Game 7 starter, which makes him vitally important. So it's not a matter of trying to fix what ails him in the offseason. It has to happen right now.

"I have all the confidence in the world that if this goes to a Game 7 and Daisuke is on the mound, he'll win," said Schilling. "He's got the makeup to persevere.

"The hard part for us is to make sure he understands that we're here for him and we'll do everything we can to help him be good. We're always open if he needs something because he doesn't have a large circle of people to talk to.

"It's a long season. It's lonely to travel a lot. We're having fun and we want him to be a part of it. For the most part he is, and he works so hard to be good that you have to enjoy it sometime, too, and sit back and relax and have a good time."

Schilling said Matsuzaka's postgame demeanor was understandable.

"When you're not doing well, it's even harder to relax," he said. "I don't expect him to be happy. He didn't pitch well and he's a champion and a winner. When you don't pitch well and everyone is counting on him, it just makes things worse.

"It's the postseason. When he doesn't do what he expects to do, he's disappointed. That's what champions do - they struggle and they find a way to fix it."

He also acknowledged that Matsuzaka fought an uphill battle with a less-than-generous strike zone.

"It was tough for a lot of reasons," said Schilling. "It was a tough strike zone, an inconsistent strike zone, for both guys. Daisuke had times where if he would have made one pitch, he would have been OK."