After Dice-K took the baseball world by storm back in December when he signed with the Boston Red Sox, he did the same thing in his first Major League start on Thursday afternoon. So what is the world saying about Dice-K’s debut. Let’s take a look.

First up is from Red Sox pitcher and resident blogger, Curt Schilling:

Daisuke. Wow. I can’t say I was surprised, but it was fun as hell to watch. The kid can flat out pitch and the line score he trotted out was even more impressive when you factor in he wasn’t as sharp as he can be. The one word that continues to come to mind every time I see him is poise. Regardless of the ‘pressure’ the media thinks he has on him, I don’t think anyone will ever exceed the expectations he has for himself. His track record speaks for itself. In the biggest games of his life, he’s pitched his best. That takes different makeup, and a confidence level you can’t fake. No doubt he was nervous. The only two things I could muster up in Japanese today were “Ten-o-sheen-day” (that’s how I pronounce it, not how it’s spelled), which means “have fun” and “Yokoo Yatta” or “eeyo” which means “good job”. Obviously I got to say the second one often, he was lights out today. After he settled into a rhythm he got on a roll. He has a large array of weapons and every one of them is an out pitch. He also has the ‘dial up’ fastball that great power pitchers have. With two strikes or in tight spots great pitchers can add 3-5 or more MPH and still maintain command of their fastball, which he did a lot today.

Tim Daloisio from The Red Sox Times gives us his impressions of Daisuke.

Over seven innings, the man known as Dice-K, stepped up and delivered a solid performance allowing six hits, one walk, and one run on a solo home run by Royals centerfielder David DeJesus, while striking out ten Royals along the way. Over 108 pitches of a variety beyond that of most American born pitchers, Matsuzaka kept Royals hitters off balance by starting hitters out with strikes with his cutter, his change, his fastball, or whatever else he and catcher Jason Varitek deemed appropriate. Once hitters got behind in the count (20 of 26 batters were started out with a strike) Matsuzaka would work both sides of the plate with an array of speeds and movement. Where it is estimated that many pitchers rely on their fastballs up to 90% of the time, only 45% of Matsuzaka’s pitches were fastballs.

Jason over at My Baseball Bias shares this with us about the start:

Talk about a debut. I watched the game today and came away very impressed. I know he faced the Royals, but his ability to throw so many different pitches and paint the corners kept him effective from start to finish.

I’ve said this many times before, but I’ll be very interested to see how he pitches against a patient hitting club…like the Yankees. I simply can’t wait for that match-up.

Here is his final line – 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K’s, 108 Pitches (74 for strikes)

If that doesn’t impress you…I don’t know what will.

This look at what the Providence Journal Red Sox blog gathered from various sources:

MATSUZAKA: “For me it didn’t quite feel like the very first time. I was able to approach the game as usual.” –AP

RICK BOUDREAU (Red Sox fan): “It’s amazing. To see all the Japanese media, I think it’s great for baseball. I can see him being the staff ace this year.” –AP

TERRY FRANCONA (on Matsuzaka): “I thought from the get-go he was sharp with all his pitches, and he had to be. On a day when it was hard to score, the way the conditions were, we got one early and we added on and he made it stand up. He was terrific.” –AP

RYAN SHEALY (Royals first baseman on Matsuzaka): “A lot of guys have a good fastball or have good offspeed stuff, but he seems to have both. He’s a tough guy. There’s a lot of tough guys in the big leagues. But he’s good.” –AP

MATSUZAKA: “Up to now, given all the expectations that have surrounded me, I’ve felt happy about those expectation. At the same time, feeling like perhaps they were a little bit extreme. Speaking for myself and all the fans that have supported me here, it’s great that I was able to come out here and record a victory in my first start.” –AP

SATOSHI KAMISHIGE (pitched against Matsuzaka in high school): “It was a great start for him. He got to show the world what he can do, he got to see the power of major league hitters and most importantly, he got the win. He’s awesome. The thing that impresses me most is his stamina. I know he probably wanted to go all the way in his first game over there, but he knows that’s not how things are done in the majors.” –AP

SHEALY (on Matsuzaka): “I didn’t know he threw that hard.” –AP

MATSUZAKA: “I can’t say that my overall condition was that great today, but I think the role of a starting pitcher is to set up the game and give my teammates the opportunity to win. I feel like I was able to do that today, so I was satisfied.” –AP

BUDDY BELL (Royals manager on Matsuzaka’s performance): “I will tell you this — I was pretty impressed. He just really had a feel for what he was doing. Everything he did was absolutely solid. Everything that he tried to do.” –AP

FRANCONA (on Matsuzaka): “Major league hitters, after you go through the order once or twice, get a bead on you, and he didn’t let them. He started throwing different pitches on different counts. He came back in the sixth and seventh and was good as he was early.” –AP

DAVID DeJESUS (who homered off Matsuzaka): “I think it was the gyroball,” he laughed when asked what he hit for the home run. “No, it was a fastball. I didn’t think it was going to go, but the ball kept carrying.” –AP

DeJESUS (on Matsuzaka): “He threw everything today. I saw lot of different stuff when I was up there. I don’t know what to call them.” –NEW YORK TIMES

DAVID ORTIZ (on Matsuzaka): “Unbelievable. He’s so under control that he reminds me of Pedro (Martinez) when he’s out there doing his thing. It doesn’t matter what the situation is — he always looks like he’s in control.’’ –SEAN McADAM

FRANCONA (on Matsuzaka): “The expectations, from what I’ve heard so far, are unreachable. But he’s got this thing figured out better than anybody else. He loves to pitch, he enjoys the heck out of the game and he’s pretty damn good. That’s good enough for me.’’ –SEAN McADAM

JONATHAN PAPELBON (on his return and the Red Sox bullpen): “It felt good, like riding a bike. I finally got a chance to get back in there.

“I think we have a lot of bullets in the bullpen and we did our job today and did our job (Wednesday night). If we can be consistent as a bullpen, we’ll be fine. We really will be. We’ve got a good mix of veterans, young guys and we’ve got great chemistry.’’ –SEAN McADAM

BELL (on two unearned runs in the eighth inning that turned a one-run game into a three-run deficit): “When you’re hanging on like that, and not doing anything offensively, you have no margin for error. When you face Schilling and Beckett and this kid in the same series … man!” — KANSAS CITY STAR

MIKE LOWELL (on Boston signing Matsuzaka): “I don’t think this organization bid money on a hope.” — NEW YORK TIMES

JOHN BUCK (Royals catcher on Matsuzaka’s pitches): “There is quite a few. Every pitch I saw was an offspeed pitch first pitch. There was no set pattern. He threw seemingly anything and everything on the first pitch. I am sure he threw every pitch first pitch at one point or another.” –MLB.com

MARK TEAHEN (Royals right fielder): “To me, he (Matsuzaka) didn’t throw too many fastballs, he threw more offspeed. He maybe showed a fastball late. He seemed like he was trying to mix it up though. Early in the game, he seemed like he was trying to finish guys off with a fastball and then later in the game, he went to it more often.” –MLB.com.

TONY PENA JR. (on Matsuzaka’s windup): “After [Curt] Schilling and [Josh] Beckett, they have a regular motion, so you start to pick it up and … you start seeing the ball better. He was mixing his pitches pretty good and for me, it was a little bit of timing, so he had his pitches going and we just had to be ready for next time.” –MLB.com.

As for me, I was very impressed. It seemed like when he did get into trouble in the 5th and 6th innings, he never looked flustered and just went about his business. He never seems to be happy with his performances but if he can continue pitching like this all season, it’s going to be a fun time watching him pitch all season.