This is sure to get him notice now

May 28, 2008|On baseball, Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff

SEATTLE - He was 8-0 to begin last night's game at Safeco Field, though the buzz surrounding Daisuke Matsuzaka seemed to have died down - in Japan and the United States - after his much-heralded rookie campaign last year.

But the buzz began again, and not in the way Matsuzaka wanted. Trailing the Mariners, 3-0, he left the mound at the start of the fifth inning after throwing two warm-up pitches. Matsuzaka was holding his back and side and walked off the mound as the Red Sox medical staff scurried to him. The club reported after the game that he had experienced shoulder fatigue.

"I had a similar experience probably in my second or third year of my professional career where before the game I just felt that things weren't 100 percent," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "I had a similar feeling, so I had a conversation with the coaching staff at the time. I think at that time I ended up starting the game.

"But today with so much season left, and such a long way to go in this long season, I thought it would be best to come out of the game at that point."

Matsuzaka would remain undefeated, thanks to Manny Ramírez's three-run homer that tied the game in the sixth, but for now the questions are: How bad is the injury and how long will he be out?

Clay Buchholz is rehabbing in the minors and could very well be summoned back to Boston to take Matsuzaka's spot in the rotation.

The 27-year-old righthander allowed three runs, two earned, in the Sox' 4-3 loss to the Mariners. Many around baseball have been commenting lately on how unsightly his 8-0, 2.40 start was. None of it has helped maintain the frenzied interest that accompanied Matsuzaka's every move last year.

"I think people in Japan like brand new," said veteran Japanese baseball reporter Hideaki Takahashi of the Mainichi Newspapers. "I think there are a lot of new players in the league this year. I think [Kosuke] Fukudome has drawn a lot of interest from the Japanese media and I think people are getting a little bit tired of watching Daisuke."

That didn't take long. Despite his unblemished won-lost record, Matsuzaka hasn't seemed that dominant. Maybe it's the walks, or the tedious, laborious games he still pitches (though he walked none in his abbreviated outing last night).

His starts are no longer the events they were after the Sox bid $51.1 million just to negotiate with him.

Was he worth the money? In this day and age, when starting pitchers are at a premium, certainly. He won 15 games last year while getting used to a new culture, a new climate of baseball. The outlay is certainly money well spent when you consider that he is Boston's No. 2 starter.