Daisuke Matsuzaka has been alternating between dominant and frustrating in his second Major League season, but it has been much more the former than the latter in a breakthrough campaign. The numbers are simply too good for any other conclusions. Dice-K is among the league leaders in wins, ERA, batting average against and home runs allowed -- a set of numbers that illustrate how Matsuzaka has prevented opposing hitters from getting good wood on his pitches.

Dice-K is also leading the American League in walks allowed, and there may be a bit of a method to his pitching madness. It’s clearly frustrating to watch. Dice-K reminds me of pitchers from my Little League youth, who would either walk or strike everybody out and consequently would have players in the field falling asleep behind him. There will also be moments where pitching dangerously is going to hurt him, but a discussion with Greg Maddux last season sparked a bit of a change for the Japanese hurler. Matsuzaka went back to some of the things that made him successful in Japan, and part of it was a certain strategy to sidestep hitters that could potentially hurt him.

That's why I continue to find it interesting when people say 'If only Daisuke could do this...' or 'If only Daisuke would just be more aggressive he would be an unquestioned ace' because -- in talking to him -- I get the feeling that this season is exactly who Dice-K is. If Daisuke gets more aggressive with his fastball and pounds the zone, I think he would some of the effectiveness that we've seen this year. In my estimation, it's time to accept the Japanese righty for what he is a majority of the game: a six inning pitcher that can sometimes go deeper into games, and somebody that's piled up a ton of wins this season.

As Matsuzaka says in an interesting Q and A below, it’s about the runs allowed, stupid. Walks and ridiculously high pitch counts are to be avoided, but it’s about runs allowed at the end of the game. And he hasn’t been letting them up. Here’s the quick Q and A with Dice-K:

 What were two or three things or determinations that you made about the Major Leagues last year? Maybe a couple of things that you were going to use as adjustments headed into this year.
DM: I think the first thing was certainly the MLB schedule: the travel and the distances and the travel times were something that I never really got to experience in Japan. So that’s something I had to adjust to during the course of last year, and I found this year that any stress from the schedule part of it is completely gone.

The second thing is the actual baseball itself and how that was different coming here, and that was something that I had to adjust to as well.

I think that’s also something that in the second year that I find there’s a lot less anxiety towards it. It’s something that the Japanese media asks me about all the time, but in terms of gripping and throwing the MLB baseball…it’s something that I feel a lot less anxiety about this season.

I think also in my life away from the ballpark, I’ve reached a point of stability and I know what to expect in my private life. I’ve also become much more accustomed to the way the Red Sox play this season, so there’s been a lot less stress on me during the season.

It seems like the walks are a lot higher this year and the hit rate has been a lot lower. Is that the result of adjustment that you made coming into this season?
DM: There’s nothing better than avoiding walking a hitter, and of course I don’t ever really want to walk anybody. But I also think that if you do allow a runner on base via a walk, the important thing is to not let that runner come home. Last year I had the chance to talk with Greg Maddux half-way through last season, and one of the things that made in impression on me was when he told me that you can allow a walk or a stolen base.

The important thing is to not let that runner come home.

When I was itching in Japan, that was my style. Even if I threw a lot of pitches or I allowed runners on base, I would battle and battle and stay in there and do my best not to let them come home. I’m not saying that walks are good and I obviously want to keep my walk count down, but that’s a little closer to how I pitched in Japan and I feel like I’ve gone back a little closer to that style of pitching.

I think the other thing is that last year it was like I was trying to feel my through the dark when I was facing the batters for the first time. This year I’m a little more familiar with what I’m up against and it’s affecting my pitch selection toward certain hitters. And that’s some of what you’re seeing this year.