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Daisuke Matsuzaka showed up at Fenway Tuesday night and was unrecognizable.

First things first, I will say it knowing that respected media outlet will not; Daisuke lost a ton of weight.  He looked healthy and clearly lost his pudge.  This was evident from the first glimpse of him warming up in the bullpen.  His uniform was baggy, as opposed to “filled-out” in his earlier starts this season.

Secondly, he attacked hitters and showed things we haven’t seen from him before.  He leaned heavily on his fastball and was able to locate the pitch.  He seemed to work faster and dictated the pace of the game, a very nice development as I’ve always said watching Matsuzaka can be painful because he works so slowly.

We also saw an interesting thing between innings.  During what would have been his warm-up throws, Matsuzaka stood about 10 feet behind the mound and aired out several throws to catcher Jason Varitek.  I don’t know the reason behind this, but I suspect it is the Red Sox meeting Matsuzaka in the middle philosophically.  He was quoted earlier this year in a Japanese newspaper that he didn’t think he could succeed with the regimen the Red Sox prescribed.

My guess is the Red Sox told him to get in shape and in returned said they’d be more willing to let him incorporate his past (i.e. Japanese) training techniques which, while unorthodox in the States, seemed to work just fine for him in Japan.

All in all, a great night for the Red Sox and Matsuzaka as with Tim Wakefield gimpy (that’s being kind) and Paul Byrd being Paul Byrd, the Red Sox had no rotational depth.  One start isn’t enough to label this a season saved for Matsuzaka, but it is a nice first step.