Dice-k , bullpen help Sox take Game 1 - 日本職棒

Dice-K, bullpen help Sox take Game 1

Right-hander flirts with no-no, trio of relievers close door
By Ian Browne / MLB.com


ST. PETERSBURG -- It turns out that those same escape hatches that Daisuke
Matsuzaka found so routinely from April through September still work during
the ultra-pressurized month of October.


Dice-k 從四月起至九月，像例行公式一樣的投球方法，證實了就算是在壓力更大的十月
份，也是可行的。

Put Matsuzaka in the midst of what should be a daunting jam and the man
buckles down and goes to work. In Game 1 of the American League Championship
Series, Matsuzaka's gift for navigating through trouble helped lift the Red
Sox to a tense 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on
Friday night.


In what was easily the best postseason performance of Matsuzaka's two-year
run with the Red Sox (seven-plus innings, four hits, four walks, nine
strikeouts), he quieted the cowbells and the Tampa Bay bats. Meanwhile, the
defending World Series champions opened the best-of-seven series by stealing
one on the road at a venue they went 1-8 at during the regular season.


Clinging to a 1-0 lead, Matsuzaka had a no-hitter through six. But Carl
Crawford snapped the bid for history by the Japanese right-hander with a
clean single to right to lead off the seventh. Cliff Floyd followed with a
single into left-center, setting up first and third with nobody out.

無安打至第六局，第七局被打破。還面臨著1,3壘有人，沒人出局的情況。

But Matsuzaka got Dioner Navarro on a shallow fly to left, struck out Gabe
Gross on a nasty sinking fastball and induced Jason Bartlett into a grounder
to short to end the threat. In the first inning, Matsuzaka had loaded the
bases on three walks but also wiggled out of that one.

解決方法。XD
還有第一局3BB滿壘。

After a quiet and frustrating night offensively against Rays righty James
Shields, the Red Sox at last produced some insurance against the Tampa Bay
bullpen in the eighth. After Dustin Pedroia struck a one-out single against
Shields, Rays manager Joe Maddon went to lefty J.P. Howell to face David
Ortiz. That resulted in a walk. Kevin Youkilis came up with the big hit, an
RBI double to left that Crawford made a diving attempt at, only to see it
glance off his glove and roll past him. Finally, the Red Sox could breathe,
if only slightly, at 2-0.

Though Matsuzaka had thrown 107 pitches through seven, Red Sox manager Terry
Francona went back to him in the eighth. That backfired, as Akinori Iwamura
led off with a single to left and B.J. Upton hit a rocket to third that
Youkilis couldn't make a play on for an infield single. Francona then went to
lefty Hideki Okajima. Carlos Pena, the power-hitting first baseman, swung at
a 3-0 pitch and flew out to right, with J.D. Drew hustling in to make the
catch. Again, the Red Sox went to the bullpen, this time calling on rookie
Justin Masterson. The sinkerballer did what he does best, getting Evan
Longoria on an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play that had to deflate the Rays.

Silenced by Shields early, the Red Sox finally got something together in the
fifth. Jason Bay led off with a walk and Mark Kotsay followed with the most
fortuitous check swing the Red Sox have had all season. The excuse-me swing
resulted in a blooper double to left, giving Boston runners at second and
third with nobody out. Jed Lowrie took advantage, lifting a sacrifice fly to
right to bring home the first run of the game.

Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.




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