Dice-K’s great game, Royals thoughts, pictures, and videos!

The anticipation around Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first regular season Major League Baseball start has been building since the Red Sox paid $50 million just to talk to the guy, and another $50 million to sign him.

It finally happened today, and it would have been foolish to hope for a better game out of him. He looked dominant over the Royals lineup.

He struggled a bit early. His very first at bat in the majors resulted in a base hit for David DeJesus. But later, in the first inning with men on first and second, Emil Brown grounded into a double play to get Matsuzaka out of the inning painlessly.

Innings two through four were masterful. It was nine Royals up, nine Royals down, which crescendoed into the fourth inning, in which Matsuzaka struck out the side.

He looked a bit more human in the fifth and sixth innings, with five men on base (two in scoring position) and a solo shot. In some aspects, through poor decisions/execution from the Royals and a pinch of good timing, Dice-K was a little lucky to escape the fifth and sixth innings with only one run given up.

But he recovered very strongly in the seventh, striking out two and ending his MLB debut with a John Buck flyout to center field. He wasn’t sent out to pitch the eighth inning.

One thing I think being overlooked by most stories and reports on the game is how well Dice-K (and Zack Greinke) pitched despite the very cold weather. While last night’s game was a tad chillier, it was still quite cold (40 degrees, maybe? Not baseball weather.) and I was impressed with how well (and for how long) these guys were hurling the ball.

All told, Matsuzaka had a very nice MLB debut. One can never tell with just Spring Training and one game, but so far, so good. Dice-K could be extremely dangerous come August and September.

His line: 7 innings pitched, 6 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 108 pitches (74 strikes), 1.29 ERA.

There are more in-depth looks at Matsuzaka’s performance, so I won’t go any further:
--Bill Simmons (who, coincidentally, didn’t rub off well on me for one of the first few things of his I’ve ever read from start to finish. He seems quite sure that he’s better than me, a Kansas Citian. Oh, well. I hope I’m wrong. Maybe I just misread. It wouldn’t be the first time. Sidenote: I can’t tell if that was a shot at Posnanski or not. If it was, I’d have a few more words to say, not entirely cordial. But since I’m not sure, perhaps it’s wiser to refrain.)
--Hardball Times
--Baseball Prospectus (Nate Silver)—Part 1 | Part 2
--Here at BBTF

Now, to those Royals thoughts in my noggin:
--Zack Greinke had a really, really great game. It was good to see. I’d say that he pitched toe-to-toe with one of the better pitchers out there and against one of the better lineups in the major leagues, and he looked extremely good. Even if Dice-K had the edge here, Greinke did very, very, very well. He struck out the number three hitter, David Ortiz, THREE times. I was told Denny Mathews said something about Greinke looking a little more confident in himself with his pitch selection and location. I must say that I agree. He didn’t back down from any hitter, or any situation. He worked himself out of jams, he had some filthy strikeouts, and he came away from the very potent Boston Red Sox lineup looking like a big time staff ace.
--I’m finding myself holding less patience for Emil Brown. While Ross Gload has shown himself to be a suitable replacement so far, Brown is doing things like hacking at bad pitches, and grounding into rally-killing double plays. If, over the course of the game, Brown acted a bit more like the DH he was, perhaps we’d be talking about why Matsuzaka got shelled for six runs.
--Alex Gordon got his first career MLB hit! Hopefully, it’s one of very many to come.
--Gordon’s defense, however, looked shoddy again. He bobbled things, he misplayed things, he let a routine grounder go through his legs, and he even nearly managed to contribute an error on a cutoff. George Brett needs to talk to this guy, get him to calm down or whatever. This kind of defense is killing me.
--I was kinda hoping for Buddy Bell to bring Greinke back for the eighth inning, but I was okay with him going to Joakim Soria (who they said was warming up in the ‘pen). Instead, Joel Peralta came out and matched Greinke’s run total (and surpassed his unearned run total) in one short inning. Then they bring in David Riske to close it out? I’m sure it was to get Riske some work in, but some of these bullpen decisions are baffling at best and troubling at worst.

Now some pictures—Dice-K video below!

[Sidenote: Brandon in MO has some up, too, and was apparently seated very close to me. See comments #27 and 30.]
--In town for the BBQ?
--There’s devotion, and then there’s devotion in the cold.
--All alone? (Greinke warming up)
--Clean slate, high hopes. I LOVE APRIL.
--Fraternizing with the enemy. (Sorry, crappy picture.)
--Don’t do it, Tony. You don’t know where his hands have been.
--I believe Greinke’s third pitch of the game.
--Never seen anything like it before at a ballpark.
--David DeJesus welcomes Dice-K to the bigs with a lead-off base hit.
--No big deal, just a picture of Dice-K’s follow-through.
--Alex Gordon fouling off a ball (I just kinda like the picture, wish it wasn’t so fuzzy).
--Greinke vs. Big Papi—Point, Greinke
--All eyes on him.
--The pressure has to be unbelievable.
--From an bystander’s perspective, the charisma between these two seemed very good.
--After his first MLB hit.
--Taking the slow ride around.
--Blared over the stadium speakers: “Under pressure”—David Bowie, Queen and Vanilla Ice would be proud.
--I just like this picture (Dice-K vs. Gordon)
--Amen.
--Greinke + Ortiz = This.
--What a sight to see.

And, to finish, some videos of Dice-K. All are from the side. Not great for mechanics, but I like the timing of his delivery.

From the stretch:

Two from the windup, one getting batter and Matsuzaka (and a funny call for a balk), the second just focusing on him: