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Dice-K's looking good

Dice-K knows how to pitch from the stretch and get out of trouble.

Making his first spring training start against major league hitters, Daisuke Matsuzaka got into a jam in the second inning against the Florida Marlins today. After walking leadoff hitter Joe Borchard and fanning Miguel Olivo, he surrendered a ground-rule double into the gap in right center by John Gall. Bouchard certainly would have scored if the ball hadn’t bounded over the fence plate.

No matter. Matsuzaka bore down and caught Scott Seabol looking at strike three, then got the ninth hitter, Eric Reed, to pop up a bunt. Dice-K threw 36 pitches in the first two innings, 24 for strikes.

It was amusing to see Matsuzaka cover his mouth with his glove when Sox catcher Jason Varitek came to the mound in mid-count with the runner on second in the second inning. As if we would know what he was saying. This amused even Bill Parcells, who was watching from the press box. NFL coaches are believed to be the ones who invented covering their mouths with flip cards while barking plays from the sidelines.

In his final inning, Matsuzaka went to 3-2 on Ramirez, then speared a wicked liner back to the mound. Uggla and Hermida popped to the mound.

On the day, Dice K threw 47 pitches, 31 for strikes. He threw first pitch strikes to ten of the 12 batters he faced. His spring ERA is 0.00. His next game is Sunday against the Orioles in Fort Myers.