He’s certainly pitched some good games this season, give him credit for that. Last night ended his streak of six starts allowing three runs or fewer. Fact is, he’s a good pitcher with good stuff. But it’s Year 4 and the Red Sox, who executed a posting bid of $51 million to gain his services and then paid him another $52 million over six years, expected he’d be a top-of-the-rotation starter by now.
Instead he’s regressed. He’s now an end-of-the-rotation starter, which is fine when everyone is healthy on this team. The Red Sox can afford to overpay him. But when he’s asked to be the third or fourth starter, good luck with that. He’s now 9-9 in his last 23 starts.
There are always issues.
Let’s put aside the 5-1 lead he lost to the Rays last night. In the sixth inning, with the Sox up two, he put the first two batters on. Jason Bartlett bunted toward the left side. Matsuzaka bounced off the mound, but looked to make a play at third when there was nobody covering. Both third baseman Adrian Beltre and catcher Kevin Cash screamed for Matsuzaka to throw to first, but according to Dice-K, “the voices were lost in the crowd.’’ Very poetic, but what?
“Right off the bat, it was my intention to make a play at third,’’ said Matsuzaka through his interpreter. “Just the way, just how hard the ball was hit, I thought I had a play at third.’’
When it happened, you tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. You figured Beltre and Cash should have directed him to throw to a certain base right away, but didn’t. Turns out they did.
“We just have to go to first base, we’ve got to take the out,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “Beltre was right behind him. We’re just set up to take the out at first.’’
Did Matsuzaka not know what to do?
“He knew that,’’ Francona said. “Sometimes the game gets going fast and you glance to third. The play was just to take the out.’’ The manager later said, “the bunt ended up being a huge play.’’
Sure was.
With the bases loaded, John Jaso singled in two runs to tie the score. The 5-1 lead had vanished, and so did Matsuzaka.
