Daisuke Matsuzaka
FameRank: 4

"NPB"

*Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award/Pacific League Rookie of the Year (1999)

*3× NPB win leader (1999–2001)

*4× NPB strikeout leader (2000–2001, 2003, 2005)

*2× NPB ERA leader (2003–2004)

*Eiji Sawamura Award (2001)

*3× NPB Best Nine Award (1999–2001)

*7× Mitsui Golden Glove Award (1999–2001, 2003–2006)

*7× Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game/NPB All-Star (1999–2001, 2004–2006)

*Japan Series/Japan Series champion (2004 Japan Series/2004)

"MLB"

*World Series champion

"Japan National Team"

*2× World Baseball Classic champion (2006 World Baseball Classic/2006, 2009 World Baseball Classic/2009)

*2× World Baseball Classic MVP (2006 World Baseball Classic/2006, 2009 World Baseball Classic/2009)

"Other"

*Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize (1999)

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is a Japanese people/Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He has played for the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Matsuzaka was selected the Most Valuable Player/MVP of the 2006 World Baseball Classic/inaugural and the 2009 World Baseball Classic/second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic Games/Olympic bronze medalist.

More Daisuke Matsuzaka on Wikipedia.

I was not convinced with that outcome. The day off helped very much. I was able to rejuvenate. Up until the game, I did have the weight of the flag on me because we could not lose again. Once the game started, I was back to myself.

That was something I've never done in my career. When I was getting ready to throw, I had the feeling something was about to go wrong. It wasn't a one-run game, so that made it easier for me to take.

I want Japan to win so well tomorrow that the Koreans will think it will be a long time before they can ever beat Japan.

My pitches were starting to come along as the innings went by. I was trying to be too accurate on the corners at the beginning but I started not to worry about it too much as my pitches were going really well.

I'm excited I had a chance to play on the best team ever. With the world championship on the line, I was really proud I did a good job.

This brings a lot of responsibility and a lot of pride. We wanted to show our baseball is at a top level. This makes us very happy.

I was not convinced with the outcome. One day off helped. I was rejuvenated. We know that from now on we cannot lose.

Well, it was my first experience to pitch in the game with the world championship on the line. I was going to feel a lot of pressure, as this is something you wouldn't be able to buy. But I did not feel much of it once I got on the mound.

It showed all the bad points I have. That was about the worst outcome I could imagine. My delivery was off and the pitches were bad.