Through tonight’s game, Daisuke Matsuzaka had an ERA of 3.25 when facing a team for the first time, 6.00 when facing them a second time.
Granted, part of that is that one of the three teams he has faced twice is the Yankees, who have hit him hard both times. Still, a trend that may bear watching.
4 thoughts on “First Roll of the Dice”
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That stat doesn’t surprise me.I saw him pitch for the first time tonight against the Tigers.The unusual rhythm of his motion struck me as something a hitter would have some trouble adjusting to initially.
The elevated ERA in those games was of his own doing. He gave up 19 hits in 20 innings in the first 3 games and 15 hits in 18 innings the second time around. However he had 12 base on balls compared to 4. I’ve seen parts of every game he has pitched and he is still learning the big leagues. He is a rookie and is making rookie mistakes. That being said he has really only had 1 bad game (the Seattle game when he walked 4 guys in the 1st inning). He has nasty stuff and I don’t think it will matter how many times teams see him as long as he gets the ball over the plate he will be tough to beat.
It will be interesting to see though how his running mate Okajima fares once people have seen him a few times because that is an awkward motion (he pulls his head all the way down and is looking almost backwards when he releases the ball). His ERA is under 0.50 at this point but he doesn’t crack 90. He’s made Giambi look terrible a couple of times, you have to wonder how long a pure off speed guy with a herky jerky delivery stays as one of the top relievers in baseball.
The Tigers’ comments after the game said as much – Brandon Inge said his delivery was the biggest thing that threw him off… other than that, he just thew a good game.
What else are you going to say? “That guy totally overpowered me, I would be lucky to ever get a hit against him.” He was nasty last night and I didn’t see guys putting their foot in the bucket or checking swings a lot. He just gunned them down. He is also a great type of pitcher to face the free swinging Tigers.