Dice-K or Dice-BB??

He’s now pitching in his second season for the Boston Red Sox and I’m officially out of patience with the $103 Million Dollar Man, Daisuke Matsuzaka. Last night’s performance may have been the biggest disgrace yet in his career. He walked 8 batters in 5 innings. This after he walked 6 against the Yankees in mid-April in another brutal outing and after being among the league leaders in walks allowed. You cannot walk 8 batters in a major league game and expect to be a successful pitcher over the long haul. You just can’t do it. What is it with this guy? Did he forget how to pitch? This is the guy Theo Epstein just had to have? He may have 5 or 6 different pitches but he can’t control any of them. I know only one of the 8 walks scored last night and he left with a 4-1 lead but all these walks are putting unnecessary stress on the Sox bullpen. A #2 starter has to pitch at least 6 innings (but more realistically 7) when he starts. Most nights it’s 5 innings and out and that isn’t gonna get it done. Right now, this guy has no idea where the ball is going and no one knows why. Yes, he won 15 games last year but most of them were not pretty. The team said he would be better this year as he got more adjusted to America so I don’t know what the problem is now. All I know is the Sox need this guy to be a solid #2. Management must be privately tearing their hair out over Matsuzaka especially because they espouse pounding the strike zone and making the opponent hit their way on base. After ace Josh Beckett, the team has two rookies and an unpredictable knuckleballer in the rotation. They need Matsuzaka to step up and make the #2 spot a given just like Beckett. That’s why he’s getting $103 million. He needs to start pitching like he’s actually worth it or there won’t be any October baseball in Boston this year. Beckett can’t do it alone. So far Matsuzaka has been a C+ pitcher at best in his time in Boston and that’s just not good enough for the money he’s making.