Matsuzaka looks like a steal at $103 mil

Sox box
Score: Boston 4, Kansas City 1
WP: Dice-K (1-0)
LP:Grienke (0-1)
SV: Papelbon (1)
HRs: KC- DeJesus (1, off Dice-K)

SUMMARY:
The ESPN.com headline put it best: "Dice K dazzles in debut"; the man who trails only the Britney Spears saga and the Anna Nicole case in media attention over the past few months lived up to the hype and then some in his major league debut this afternoon in Kansas City. The 26-year-old Japanese righthander threw 108 pitches in 7 innings and gave up just 1 run while scattering 6 hits and 1 walk, striking out 10 Royals.

HERO: Duh!

GOAT: KC reliever Joel Peralta
Peralta blew a 2-1 game wide open when he came on in relief of starter Zack Grienke in the 8th. He promptly gave up a double to Big Papi, intentionally walked Drew, threw a wild pitch and gave up an RBI single to Coco. He didn't get the loss because the Royals were already trailing when he came in, but boy did he make sure KC had no chance to come back.

Perhaps it had to do with this disturbing line on FOXSports.com's bio of Peralta: News: Joel Peralta admitted that the virus he was suffering from early this spring was actually food poisoning from eating a cow tail.

You can't make this shit up, folks!

KEY MOMENT: The moment Dice-K took the mound for the first time after an entire offseason of negotiating, contract demands, wining & dining and immmeasureable media hype. Welcome to the bigs, Dice K.

REVIEW:

After months of hope & hype the debut of the Diceman was a rousing success. For the third straight game the Sox offense staked its starter to a lead, this time courtesy of Manny first RBi of 2007. And for the second consecutive contest the starter made that lead hold up. Dice-K was as good as everyone associated with the Sox had hoped, confusing Royals batters all night while throwing his usual wide variety of pitches effectively. He also fielded his position like a Far east version of Greg Maddox.

Although he gave up a hit to the first batter he faced, a single by David DeJesus, it was smooth sailing from then on for Dice-K. By the time Julio Lugo manufactured a run in the 5th (he doubled, stole 3rd and scored on a wild pitch) to make the score 2-0 Boston, Matsuzaka had allowed only the 1 hit and had struck out 5 batters, including fanning the side in the bottom of the 4th.

Matsuzaka ran into his first real trouble in the 6th; DeJesus got to him again (could he have found his first foil?) when he belted a leadoff homer, and Esteban German followed with a single to center. Luckily German was erased on an attempted steal because Emil Brown followed with a double to deep center that would certainly have tied the game and could have put a whole different spin on the dice-K Debut story, double-digit strikeouts or not.

But the Diceman escaped further damage and Boston padded its lead in the 8th when Papi led of with a double, Drew was intentionally walked, and Peralta came in and did his best Fausto Carmona imitation for KC. Matsuzaka gave way to the pen in the 8th, and after J.C. Romero pitched an inning Johnathan Papelbon made his 2007 debut and breezed through the 9th for his first save of the season.

Basically the day was a rousing success for the Sox and their prized Japanese possession, leaving every member of the Nation ecstatic and wondering what the ceiling on this phenomenal kid will be.

All I know is that $100 mil+ pricetag might look like a bargain when his season is over.

NOTES & QUOTES:

"I didn't know he threw that hard" -Royals 1B Ryan Shealy, who has apparently been living under a rock for 4 months, after striking out three times against Matsuzaka

-on a chilly day around the league (the DET/TOR game was cancelled due to cold) the gametime temp was 36 degrees, or about 40 degrees cooler than for the opener on Monday.

-J.D. Drew had a hit for the third straight game and is now 4-10 early in his Sox career

-after three games there are clearly some guys who are starting hot, and some not so hot.let's take a quick look.

HOT: Drew, Pedroia (5-10), Lowell (4-12), Lugo (4-12)

NOT: *Papi (2-11), Manny (3-11), Tek (1-11), Coco (1-10) * Kd 4 times today

The whole team is hitting .250, yet they are 2-1, based on the strength of its starting pitching. We know these guys will hit, it's just a matter of when. Below 40 temps certainly don't help matters.

Record: 2-1

UP NEXT: Fri @ Texas 2:00 EST Wakefield vs. Tejada