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Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka will try to earn his paycheck today. His $103 million paycheck. That's right, the Red Sox paid $51 just to to have the privillege of talking to Dice-K last summer, and then subsequently paid $52 million more just to sign the guy. That makes tonight's do-or-die start in Game 7 of the ALCS worth that much more to both the organization and the pitcher.


In the early goings of the season, Matsuzaka looked like the investment was paying off. 7-2 towards the end of May, opposing batters just couldn't figure out the mysterious "gyro-ball" (if it really exists). Then, things sort of equalized. Dice-K finished the year with a 15-12 record, including a fairly abysmal September, in which he had a 7.62 ERA, giving up 24 earned runs in 5 starts and 28.1 innings.

The playoffs haven't been much better.

Matsuzaka's post-season ERA stands at 6.75, with an 0-1 record, which would be 0-2 if not for Manny Ramirez's 9th inning grand slam heroics which cost the Angels a victory in Game 2 of the ALDS. Dice-K followed this with a 4-2 loss to the Indians in Game 3 of this series, giving up all 4 of those runs in less 4.2 innings of work.

In short, Matsuzaka has been anything but dependable of late for the Sox. Who knows what we'll see tonight? He has the advantage of pitching on 5 days rest, but even at that, nothing is certain in Game 7 of the ALCS.

It'll be nice to pitch at Fenway, with the faithful cheering (or jeering?) at his every move.

No pressure, Dice. You just have to earn your $103 million in one night with all of Boston, and most of the rest of the country, watching.

Labels: ALCS, Angels, Baseball, Boston, Dice-K, Kevdog, Matsuzaka, playoffs, Red Sox