Dice K is Looking Tired

Japanese teams tend to have a six-man pitching rotation instead of 4 or 5. So most starters pitch once a week. For an idea, please have a look at the starters project.

SoftBank has taken to a 10-day rotation for K. Saitoh this season to help him recover after each start.

Midnight to AM Talk Radio. BoSox fans say Dice-K is done. He should be given rest and taken out of the rotation. Do 30 pitches per outing every 3 days. Go see football games. Eat plenty of Boston Baked Beans and Boston North End Postas.

A couple of weeks ago, Boston had plenty of pitching, now is the staff tired?

I have been a Matsuzaka fan since 2001, and it looks like he just doesn't have it (maybe due to all the pressure and expectations?). Japanese starting pitchers just do not have what it takes to pitch the Majors. I'm still going to root and cheer for him every time, but I don't think I'll expect the Daisuke of the Seibu Lions anymore.

Still, we have Saito, Otsuka, and Okajima to carry the pride of Japan into the Majors. Saito, without a doubt, is the best closer in the Majors currently.

Plus, Japanese position players are doing very well of course. Iwamura, Little Matsui, Big Matsui, Iguchi, and of course the greatest Mariner, Ichiro!

I was on Jon Rich's program on WEEI (850 AM Boston) the night of Dice-K's latest start, and myself and the host agree that Matsuzaka is indeed out of gas. If anything, I think Dice-K was good this year, he just needs a full MLB off-season without too many distractions and he'll be fine.

When you look at some of the games he pitched in, he should have 15 or 16 wins, not just 14, it's just the Red Sox offense didn't do much of anything for him.

People who expected Matsuzaka to win 20 games for us belong in the loony bin. No Japanese starting pitcher has been this good (with the exception of Nomo), and when you consider the fact that he had such intense scrutiny on him between the Japanese media and being in Boston, which is one of the toughest cities to play in, I think Matsuzaka has handled himself very well this season.

Yeah, he's tired. Many people have advocated that the Sox have him skip a start or two, and have him recharge his batteries and get ready for the post season. I think that's a good idea, and agree with most of what NH11 said.

Daisuke is the best Japanese starting pitcher ever to come to MLB, period. Yet, it's a difficult adjustment, and to expect him to come over and dominate immediately is unreasonable.

That said, he's still among the AL league leaders in K's, and his ERA is still more than 0.5 a run better than Josh Beckett's was last year, in his first with the Sox in a new league. And Beckett was only making the move from the NL to the AL, whereas you have to throw in a whole new country, language, culture, strike zone, etc. for Daisuke.

The comments from guest "Japanese kid" are so embarrassingly reactionary, it makes me think he's one of the naysayers from this page [Nikkan Sports - in Japanese]

I think the other thing people overlook is that maybe he's already peaked. Maybe 2006 was his peak year. He wouldn't be the first guy to be amazing from 18-26 and then drop off slowly. Suguru Egawa was the man they called "kaibutsu" before Matsuzaka, and he retired in his early 30s.

There was so much money invested in the success of Matsuzaka as a major leaguer, I think nobody even stops to think he's perhaps on the decline. Personally, I think it's a mixture of a few things. I think it's fatigue, better overall power of American League batting orders from 1 to 9, and the career pitch count. I think the second is the one that really effects him. With Japanese batting orders, he could rest a bit and rely on sure outs at the bottom of the order. He doesn't have that luxury in the AL, where every batter can possibly hit a three run homer off of you.

- He doesn't have that luxury in the AL, where every batter can possibly hit a three run homer off of you.

Agreed - even more so since his BB rate is way up this year. I'm confident he'll get that back down next year as part of the adjustment. I don't think he's on his way downhill at all. Not for a second.

Oh, and Japanese Kid I forgot - Papelbon, Saito, and Putz are the best closers. Hard to argue one over the other, but I'll take Papelbon. We agree on Ichiro being awesome though, fwiw.

He will be the opening pitcher this Friday against the New York Yanks series. Manager Tito F. has a lot of confidence in him. If this is not pressure, then what is? This is the series that BoSox fans want as the bloody weekend when they put my Yanks to rest.

He is scheduled to make that start, yes. But I'd be pretty surprised, and slightly disappointed in Francona, if he actually does make that start. He needs a game off. I'd hope Tavarez or maybe even Buchholz gets a spot start in his place, but we'll see.

At any rate you're right - we're looking to relegate your boys to the Wild Card hunt by this time next week.

Here's a story in today's NY Times on Dice K's problems [after the ad]. It addresses many of the issues some raise here, including:

• Fatigue from pitching every 5th day
• Predictable pattern of using too many fastballs
• Not getting the high strike calls in MLB
• Batter adjustment
• Attempt to emulate MLB pitchers

Bobby V again proves his foresight by predicting trouble from the 5 man rotation and overuse of the fastball.

Now is the time for Dice K to show that he can be a pitcher and not a thrower. He had better use his head more and take a few pages from the Tom Glavine pitching book - mix it up, move it around, and keep the batter off balance by guessing.

Daisuke is facing the Yankees today so it's not going to be easier. Too bad I can't watch the game since I'll be busy.

Dice-K wasn't bad last night at all. It was about what I was hoping to get out of him, even though it was only 5.2 innings. That Yankees lineup is very potent, and to hold them to 2 earned runs after loading the bases twice, that is very impressive, especially considering how bad Matsuzaka was his last few starts.

He could've gone deeper if he didn't walk 5 batters, but he's been getting squeezed by MLB umpires all year (not to mention the extremely low quality of umpiring across the board this year).

Speaking of umpires, I have never seen them as bad as they are in the NPB. I am pretty sure that those pitches just off the plate were being called strikes when he was in Japan.

I said it in April. Dice K will do fine until it gets late in the season. Part of that is because players have seen his stuff all year long. He's still nasty, but only with rest. Dice K probably got to Boston with 6 pitches. How many will they let him throw? Three? Look for him to Dice KKKKKKKKKKKK next year. He'll be fine.

Go Lions!