I was reading Boston.com and while reading Dan Shaughnessy I came across this line.
The Sox got another encouraging performance from Daisuke Matsuzaka yesterday, but again were beaten by the Yankees, 3-0.
Perhaps I missed something, but the pitcher we all have been so worried about his control went and threw 5 walks in 7 IP. Sure it was against a team with an offense that has totaled 194.5 batting runs, which is more than 100 runs above the next offense, but this was not an encouraging performance.
I agree with the greater point to the article, which was that the Red Sox had essentially conceded these games and went with a lite lineup after a long flight from Kansas City and a quick turn around on Friday.
So if Matsuzaka is headed back to his old self we really need the evolution of Clay Buchholz to be real. He still holds a K/BB of 1.76 on the season, but has been at 2.75 in the last 4 starts all in September.
He has also made some changes I think will help him be successful as well as stay healthy. Throwing a high amount of sliders and curves can often be dangerous to a pitchers arm. Last year Buchholz was throwing almost 40% of his pitches as sliders or curves. This year that has fallen to below 20% as he has upped his rate of fastballs and changeups.
So far so good as all 4 pitches are currently positive in pitch run values. Last year his fastball was a huge negative at -2.84, but with the emphasis on change up and the fastball it has become more neutral at 0.35.
If we are looking for encouraging signs we should stick to the pitcher going 3rd in the rotation for the first round, rather than crossing our fingers about Daisuke's walk rate.