Dice-K's pitching clinic
If you're an Orioles fan, you've got to hope that every pitcher in the Orioles organization was watching last night's ALCS opener between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, because Daisuke Matsuzaka put on a clinic on pitching out of trouble.
Not that he was in trouble much. He took a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up back-to-back singles to Carl Crawford and Cliff Floyd with no one out, but it was how he deconstructed that budding rally that makes him such a great pitcher. He pitched like all the pressure was on the Rays, who were trailing by one run and looked like they were about to take control of the game.
Dice-K got Dioner Navarro to pop out to short left field, then struck out Gabe Gross in what probably was the most important at-bat of the game. The key is his absolutely unflappable demeanor. He never gives in, as evidenced by the pitch that Gross swung through for the second out. It probably would have been ball four, loading the bases, but he went on to get Jason Bartlett on a routine grounder.
Matsuzaka got into one of his typical first-inning jams by walking the bases loaded, but also got the outs he needed to keep the Rays off the scoreboard. The combination of his large pitch selection and his ability to change speeds makes him almost unbeatable. But it is his terrific focus and inner calm that makes him a truly special pitcher, though you only need look at his 18-3 regular season record and 2.90 ERA in baseball's toughest division to know that.
The Rays also got two runners on with none out in the eighth against Matsuzaka, but he didn't get the chance to work out of that jam. Sox manager Terry Francona went to his bullpen for Hideki Okajima, setting up the situation that was documented in my earlier post today.
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Comments
Pete,
thought the same thing in regards to your previous post. Okajima was struggling with his control, and Pena should have taken the walk. Even if Longoria hits that same ground ball, chances are the Rays get on the board with a run. But hey, at least Joe Maddon got the chance to make that call in that situation. What our Dave Trembley wouldn't give to be in Joe's shoes right now!
Posted by: TX O's Fan | October 11, 2008 11:20 AM
Peter, I expected more of you. Put Dice-K on the Orioles, and he's 9-7 with a 4.5 era and spawning pages of posts complaining about guys with no control who can't pitch out of the 6th inning. With the Sox bullpen and some luck, he got away with it this year. Maybe the Sox would give up something for Daniel.
Posted by: sheets | October 11, 2008 7:41 PM