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October 22, 2007
By STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- After losing Game Three in Cleveland, Daisuke Matsuzaka was distaught, knocked out after only 4 2/3 innings.
But his teammates kept telling the right-hander that they would give him a chance to redeem himself. That opportunity came Sunday night, in the deciding game of the ALCS because the Sox had captured Games Five and Six in forcing a winner-take-all contest at Fenway Park.
And while Matsuzaka wasn't dominant, he turned in five solid innings, leaving with a 3-2 lead as manager Terry Francona turned to his bullpen duo of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, who held Cleveland in check in what ballooned to an 11-2 win.
''The team kept telling me to get ready to pitch Game Seven,'' said Dice-K through translator Masa Hoshino. ''I think everybody on this team worked very well together to bring us into Game Seven. I just wanted to respond as best I could to my teammates today.
''I felt very lucky that this start came along and belonged to me, but I also felt that with the momentum we had going into the game, there was no way we were going to lose," said Matsuzaka, who won the title game for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic last year, prompting the Sox to shell out $103 million in posting fees and salary to bring him to the Red Sox.
He was happy enough that he was able to turn a lead over to the bullpen, though he was by no means totally satisfied with his performance.
''My velocity itself was okay, even in my last start. But today I wanted to get ahead in the count and even if I missed a few spots, I wanted to throw with a lot of power. I think I was able to do that,'' said Matsuzaka, who gave up six hits, fanned three and didn't walk a batter.
''Once I was in the game I tried not to worry about all the small things. I wanted to go out there and swing my arm hard and put my heart into it, and I wanted to display that to everybody that was watching,'' he said.
That audience included fans in Japan, where the game was broadcast live, starting at around 9:30 a.m., Monday, local time in Japan.
Now he is looking forward to pitching in the World Series in his rookie season in the big leagues.
''I think the first repsonse (to his outing Sunday night) is the team winning, and in that sense, I'm very happy," he said. ''But there is more to play and I'm not 100 percent satisfied with my own pitching today. I want to address some of those things in my next outing. The world's biggest stage is still waiting for us, and I'd like to see what I can do."
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