Good To Get This Out of the Way

In retrospect, tonight was a relief, in much the same way that David DeJesus' single and home run were each a release of collectively held breaths. Matsuzaka was bound to lose eventually, and better to lose by only allowing 3 earned runs in 7 full innings pitched, with 4 punchouts and only one walk. It's better still to lose when the winning pitcher has a no hitter going until the eighth inning, where he allowed his first and only hit on an infield dribbler just barely under the glove of a diving second baseman. Everybody spoke of the eventual matchup of Ichiro and Matsuzaka, but people in the know were looking at the real matchup between the two pitchers, as Hernandez was coming off a 12 K season debut against Oakland. The know-it-alls were right: pitching was the story.

Matsuzaka wasn't even bad, he just couldn't get his breaking balls to break the way he wanted them to. His fastball was there for most of the game, and he never let the game get away from him. It is there, in his ability to keep everything under control, that the ability of Matsuzaka shines through. Games like these frequently get away from pitchers in the big leagues, fluke doubles leading to opponents knocking down the door and breaking open a scoring rampage. That didn't happen tonight.

If there is any criticism to be dished out, it should go to the Sox batters. With the exception of Drew's single in the eighth, it was embarassing, like when I play MLB 07: The Show and swing at EVERY first pitch. All you end up with is a lot of quiet outs and an exceptionally low pitch count for the starter. Hendandez didn't crack 100 pitches until the ninth, meaning there was zero patience at the plate. He was lights out, no question, but in situations like that I firmly believe you have to just hang back and let the pitcher beat himself, which we failed to do. (Coco Crisp, I'm looking at you in particular.)

So the big offseason pickup lost his home opener, but he still pitched well. Let's hope the bats can wake up a little bit, so that good pitching performances like the one put in tonight don't go to waste.