Daisuke Matsuzaka had a tough go of it in Double-A yesterday (Sunday), throwing two innings and giving up five runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out one. In other words, the same old Dice-K.
It would be nice to have Dice back for the stretch run — this is no question — but if the Sox can get into October, they may not need him. A three- and four-man rotation is usually all that is needed in October. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield and Paul Byrd, at this point, can help the Sox far more.
Update: Here’s a link to photo’s Tim took at the game in Manchester yesterday. From his view, Dice-K wasn’t throwing his A stuff, almost as if he wasn’t even trying the first time through the lineup.