Dice-K divided against himself

Five billion bucks that at least one headline of a Boston newspaper tomorrow morning reads "Dice-OK."

Tonight's outing against the Yankees summed up Daisuke's promise and problems alike. At times Matsuzaka seemed simply awesome, mixing pitches impressively and landing 95-mph fastballs with movement in the barely hittable part of the strike zone. But often he lost control, looking just plain sloppy. Usually Matsuzaka pitches well overall but loses control for one inning, bizarrely regaining composure the next inning. Tonight he presented his most succinct Jeckyll-Hyde act yet, going wild at the start of the fourth inning (double, triple and four-pitch walk, which almost understates how bad Daisuke looked) and suddenly finding himself at the end (strikeout and double play, deserved by quality pitches). He went on to dominate in the fifth and struggle in the sixth. Overall, I'd say he got lucky to give up two earned runs in 5.2 innings: he allowed four hits and five walks, though also struck out seven.

Yet Daisuke showed unambiguously why he has the stuff to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. He must learn to locate consistently. Given his high within-game, even within-inning, variance, his root problem might be mental.

The Yankees teeing off against Okajima and Papelbon will go unmentioned.