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Boston Heraldより抜粋。
Truth in advertising applies to Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Honest, he’s just that good.

It’s OK to buy into him.

The Red Sox have an ace on their hands.

“I don’t think this organization bid money on a hope,” third baseman Mike Lowell said yesterday after Matsuzaka blew away the Kansas City Royals in his first major league appearance, a 4-1 Sox victory. “I was more excited for him, just because the world was going to be coming to an end if he had a mediocre start. He answered the hype.”

Matsuzaka allowed just one run, a sixth-inning solo home run to David DeJesus, in his seven innings and was strong throughout in striking out 10. His struggles were minimal and never prolonged. Only once did the Royals go back-to-back among their six hits.

For a pitcher who is commanding a total financial package of $103 million over six years and who has inspired an inordinate quantity of newspaper, TV, radio and Internet stories, the game boiled down to Matsuzaka being able to use the right weapon at the right time.

Using a high number of well-executed sliders and curveballs among his 108 pitches, Matsuzaka was able to keep hitters guessing. By commanding his fastball on both sides of the plate, he essentially had his way with the Royals.

“I saw a little bit of everything - he’s got a good enough fastball by itself,” said Kansas City first baseman Ryan Shealy, who finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Matsuzaka. “Then he combines that with the offspeed stuff, so he’s tough.”

Alex Gordon was able to collect his first major league hit off Matsuzaka (a fifth-inning single), but the rookie third baseman struck out and flied out his other two times up against the right-hander.

“I guess that’s why you guys were hyping him so much,” Gordon said. “He went out there and pitched like he knows what he’s doing.”

One at-bat typified Matsuzaka’s day.

In the third inning, John Buck led off and was greeted with a 76 mph curveball that the Royals catcher could only gaze at as it plopped in for a strike. Next came an 83 mph slider that Buck fouled off. Then came the heat for the third strike, a 94 mph fastball on the outer half of the plate that Buck could only stare at.

“He was pretty much as advertised,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said. “He has great stuff and threw just about everything over for strikes. He had an understanding how to pitch and he had good velocity. He’s really good. For a kid, in his first outing in this league, to pitch like that, that’s really impressive.”

The chilly weather - 36 degrees at first pitch - played into the hands of both Matsuzaka and Kansas City starter Zack Greinke, whose strong effort (seven innings, eight hits, seven strikeouts, one earned run) was completely overshadowed.

With millions of fans back home in Japan tuning in at 3 a.m. to watch, hundreds of media covering the event and too-many-to count observers anxious to see what the 26-year-old is really made of, Matsuzaka barely appeared to notice the distraction.

Asked how emotional he got, Matsuzaka offered an answer that at first may have sounded surprising, but after yesterday, should be the baseline for his future.

“I’m having a hard time responding to the question because it really was such a normal day for me,” Matsuzaka said. “I think when I look back, when I pitched at Koshien (the high school tournament in 1998, when Matsuzaka’s star began glowing as he led his team to the title), it was definitely emotional. Today, it was a day that I have been waiting for for a very long time but given that fact, I felt surprisingly normal.”

Current ace Curt Schilling understands a few things about delivering performance under pressure.

“Any time he needed to make a pitch, he made the pitch,” Schilling said. “He’s got ace makeup.”

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昨日は午後３時頃、眠くて眠くて、久しぶりに会社で居眠りをしてしまった。