Even Francona seemed shocked by what he did going right down the middle of the plate with every pitch. For someone who loves to nibble it was shocking to see him throw 68 percent of his pitches for strikes. These pitches were batting practice and we saw the expected result.
There was something else I noticed as well. Matsuzaka threw an unusually low number of fastballs. In 2010 he threw 70 percent fastballs including four-seamers, two-seamers and cutters. Last night he only threw 57 percent.
He went mainly with the curve, but also completely skipped throwing a single slider. Perhaps this was all just a factor of the length of his outing and he never got time to setup, but why would he throw only 4 four-seamers in 47 pitches?
This was his most common pitch in 2010 at 40 percent usage. While it’s possible he was trying hard to hit the zone it’s not likely he would pass on his four-seamer. His four-seamer was always a good strike pitch and got more swings.
I am starting to think there might be the possibility of an injury with Dice-K. He has hidden injuries from the team before and dealt with hip and shoulder troubles recently. His velocity has also been down almost 2 miles per hour. Also Charlie noticed a drop in his release point in his earlier post. A drop in release point is often a sign of arm or shoulder troubles. They lower the release point to relieve pain or stress on the arm.
His next start will be very telling if he makes it. He was not himself on Monday night, but why that is was not clear. I hate to say this but I’m actually hoping to see the wild Dice-K since this Bizarro Dice-K is even worse.