The streets were a buzz throughout Boston on Wednesday night with fans praising the second coming, Daisuke Matsuzaka, as their savior to the future. But in the storied debut that carried lofty expectations rich in headlines, it wasn’t the messiah that reigned supreme, but a King from Seattle that quietly stole the spotlight from the pride of the Fenway faithful. Just three days following his twenty-first birthday, Felix Hernandez took the mound with all eyes focused on his opponent, and he made the most of the attention by silencing the Red Sox lineup. Not until the first pitch of the eighth inning was his no-hit bid broken up, but that didn’t stop Hernandez from finishing what he started as he pitched his first complete game shutout of the season.

With all the hype centered on Matsuzaka’s highly anticipated matchup against native counterpart Ichiro Suzuki, very few expected King Felix to overshadow the night with his one hit performance. And speaking of that matchup, or lack their of, Dice-K may have gotten the better of Ichiro (0-4), but he hardly overpowered him in a manner worthy of the hype. Overall, Matsuzaka pitched well, but against a team coming in on 4 days rest with the lowest team batting average in the majors at .167, he has yet to be challenged by a formidable lineup. And judging how a familiar Kenji Johjima handled Matsuzaka during his at-bats, we may have witnessed a prelude of things to come when teams face him a second time around during the season. Ultimately, the hype will roll on, but in the wake of a loss, the baseball world has finally blinked to reveal that Daisuke Matsuzaka and his army of pitches are in fact human. Next stop on the Dice-K promotional tour, the rival New York Yankees, all aboard.

(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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