This may not be Dice-K's only Series ring

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BOSTON -- Perhaps, at the 2009 home opener, pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka will get his World Series ring at the same time as his Boston Red Sox teammates. Given the way he's pitching, there's no reason the Red Sox can't have yet another championship season. "Since I was starting today," said Dice-K, through his Japanese interpreter, "I missed out on the chance to get my ring with my teammates. As I was warming up, I saw my teammates getting their rings, and felt a little jealous. "At some point during the game, the ring had been put in my locker. After the game, I tried it on for the first time and, I must say, it looked pretty good." You wouldn't find anyone among the Fenway opening day-record crowd of 36,567 who wouldn't say Matsuzaka looked pretty good Tuesday. Striking out one batter in each of the 6 2/3 innings he pitched, Dice-K gave up just four hits, no runs and walked four batters as Boston whitewashed the winless Tigers, 5-0. Matsuzaka now is 2-0 in three starts this season, having allowed only eight hits and just three runs in 18 1/3 innings. He has struck out 22, walked 9, and has a miniscule ERA of 1.47. "I thought he established early on that he was going to command the strike zone," manager Terry Francona said. "From the 'get-go,' he started attacking his spots, and he carried that through 'til the end." After walking Brandon Inge with two outs in the seventh, it was hardly surprising that Matsuzaka came out, considering he had thrown 96 pitches through the sixth, which ended when he retired Carlos Guillen on a liner to center with the bases loaded. The Sox then sent seven batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth, when they scored one run but left the bases loaded. "We were up at bat a long time," Matsuzaka said. "The coaches kept asking if I was OK to go back in. When I did, I felt that if I gave up a walk I'd be taken out, and that's what happened." "It was a long sixth," Francona said, "so we had him on a short leash. If there'd been any inkling that he was stiffening up, we wouldn't have sent him back out." Matsuzaka also pitched the season opener, March 25 in Tokyo, against Oakland. He gave up just two hits in five innings and struck out six. But he had some control problems, walking five and hitting a batter. He left the game with Boston behind, 2-0. The Sox rallied to win in extra innings, 6-5. Dice-K was back on the mound for the A's home opener in Oakland a week later. He was the winning pitcher in that game, striking out nine while displaying much better control with no walks. He gave up just two hits and one run in 6 2/3 innings as Boston won, 2-1. "Usually," he said, "I'm a slow starter. It takes me a while to get my engine going." Matsuzaka appears to be hitting on all cylinders early in his second season with the Red Sox, who spent $103 million last year to bring him to America from the Seibu Lions of the Nippon Professional League. "Compared to last year," he said, "I had more time to prepare for the season, so I feel I was able to approach this season with more comfort." He certainly makes opposing batters feel uncomfortable. "Last year, in my first start here (at Fenway)," he recalled, "whether it was the loud ovation, or the flashy welcome, there was a lot going on, so it might be that affected me a little bit, mentally. Today, I approached this like a normal game." Truth be told, Boston's home opener was anything but normal because of all the pre-game hoopla. But Dice-K was all business, saving his celebrating for after the game. "Having been given a chance to throw the home opener," he said, "and also with the team on a little bit of a slide (the Red Sox were coming off three straight losses in Toronto), I just wanted to go out and win." He won 15 games last year as a rookie, when he led the Sox in starts (32), innings pitched (204 2/3) and strikeouts (201). He wasn't as effective in the latter part of the season -- he was 10-6 before the All-Star break, with a 3.84 ERA; 5-6, 5.19 afterwards -- but did win two playoff games, becoming the first Japanese pitcher to do so. Now 27, with a year's experience in the majors, there is every reason to expect Dice-K will be even better this season. "I thought he was a couple of different pitchers last year -- early, middle, and late in the season," Francona said. "This year, I think he'll be able to pitch more without handling things on the periphery -- dealing with things for the first time. When he doesn't throw the ball the way he wants, it won't be because of a new culture. It will be more baseball now, as opposed to a lot of firsts." Which very well could lead to Dice-K getting a second World Series ring.(Contact Jim Donaldson at jdonalds@projo.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)