Matsuzaka is in the zone

Control is back - so is success

HOUSTON - It was hard to predict exactly how Daisuke Matsuzaka would pitch last night. After he was shelled for seven runs in one inning plus against the Cardinals last Saturday, Matsuzaka's stuff and his strength were in question as he stepped to the hill in Minute Maid Park. Not even Jason Varitek, crouched behind the plate, knew what he would get.

Through the first inning, through three straight strikeouts swinging, all on offspeed pitches, Varitek acknowledged there was a certain relief.

"It's tremendous because we didn't know," Varitek said after the Red Sox and Matsuzaka prevailed, 6-1, over the Astros. "Just as well we could have had the same thing back [as we did Saturday]."

Matsuzaka, too, felt he needed to prove something, both to himself and to his teammates. It's hard to be happy after an outing as horrific as his last, especially since it was his first start in the majors in nearly a month.

"For me, I am not even counting my last start," Matsuzaka said through interpreter Masa Hoshino. "I did feel like I came back with this start. My teammates were quick to mention, 'Congratulations, coming back.' I just hope that gradually I can make back for all the trouble I caused."

It could have been a reprise of the mess last Saturday, when Matsuzaka's power and command were absent. The Sox could have seen a Matsuzaka who wasn't ready to return from a strained rotator cuff, or ready to be the No. 2 man in a rotation that needs one. Then he started pitching.

There was, manager Terry Francona observed, a crispness to the way the ball came out of Matsuzaka's hand. And while he might not have lasted too long, constrained by an 85-pitch limit (he topped out at 87), he was effective. Especially before the fifth inning. After four near-perfect frames, in which he allowed just one hit and one walk, Matsuzaka walked Hunter Pence, allowed a single to Humberto Quintero, and, with two outs, walked Michael Bourn, loading the bases.

But after a visit from pitching coach John Farrell, Matsuzaka got David Newhan to pop to the shortstop to end the inning and his outing. So the walks (three) were still a problem. But the command was vastly improved.

"He had a much better feel," Varitek said. "He was through the zone with his fastball and his breaking stuff. Threw some pretty good changeups. He was through the zone much better."

So some questions were answered. But others lingered. Such as, where will Matsuzaka be July 15? And what will he be doing? That is, after all, the date of the All-Star Game.

With one start left before the All-Star team is announced July 6, Matsuzaka is undeniably a candidate. He has a 9-1 record with a 3.21 ERA, All-Star statistics by anyone's count. It's the 44 walks in 70 innings that make him more of a wild card than a shoo-in.

Matsuzaka said that if he deserves to be at Yankee Stadium for the game, he'll certainly be happy. But he's not focused on his destination. No, he's more interested in working through the issues that cropped up last Saturday. In the interim, before last night's start, Matsuzaka spent a lot of time with a baseball in his hand, "trying to reawaken my touch for the ball over the past week.

"For my warm-up and my bullpen, I felt that I was able to swing my arm really well," Matsuzaka said of last night's performance. "So if I was conscious of any one thing going in there, it was about [that]. I don't know if I'd say [I was] happy, but I think that was a minimum standard that I wanted to reach out there today. I feel that with my next start and going forward, it will get better and better."

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.