The long anticipated start for Daisuke Matsuzaka is officially in the books. Dice-K went seven innings, striking out 10 and only yielding one run in a 4-1 victory over the Royals.
The most encouraging thing for Red Sox fans is that Matsuzaka seemingly had command of all of his pitches. What often happens early in the regular season is that starting pitchers rely on fastballs until they get control over the rest of their pitches. But Matsuzaka threw multiple pitches with good command, including the much talked about “gyro ball”, which is basically a pitch with severe drop off by the time it reaches the plate.
Overall, Boston fans have to be encouraged about what they saw, especially since Curt Shilling gave them next to nothing in his 2007 debut.
