The problem with so many pitches in the strike zone is that some of them find the plate's heart. The Rangers battered Matsuzaka for 10 hits - few of them cheap - and five runs. Manager Terry Francona called the outing, "almost a little backward from some of his starts."
Opponents are batting .349 off Matsuzaka in his past four starts, a staggering difference from the .211 he held batters to last season. Matsuzaka has pitched with more aggression since he came off the disabled list, but he is 1-3 without throwing six full innings in any of his starts. Maddening as his escape acts could be last season, at least he escaped. Yesterday, he threw too many pitches with similar action in similar locations at similar speeds. Not enough merihari.
"I do have some thoughts on it, but I'm not sure if it's something I can improve on right away," Matsuzaka said of his struggles, through translator Masa Hoshino. "But the opponent's batting average is something I would like to focus on."
Matsuzaka's fastball reached 94 miles per hour, and he threw easily. The Red Sox are confident the shoulder fatigue that submarined his first two starts disappeared with his disabled list stint. But Matsuzaka has not found the typical flow of a season, ever since spring training when he participated in the World Baseball Classic and trained in Japan, not Fort Myers, Fla. with the Red Sox.
"I think my physical condition itself isn't that bad, but there are things that I am working on right now that I would normally take care of in the preseason or in the offseason," Matsuzaka said. "So in that sense it might take a little bit more time. But what I'm always trying to do is to get back to that where I can put together a good game."
"There was some swing-and-miss in that fastball," Francona said. "I think the hope is, as he continues to pitch, that progresses. Do we think that as he gets into a rhythm he will get sharper? Yeah, I agree with that. As far as making pitches, he doesn't have the reps that everybody else does right now."
