OAKLAND -- Nobody wanted to say it, but this was virtually inevitable.

 

One inning. Forty-three pitches. Five runs. A "fatigued" shoulder.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you your World Baseball Classic Most Valuable Player -- Daisuke Matsuzaka.

 

Matsuzaka is a pitcher who is among the most difficult in baseball to decipher. The unorthodox way of pitching. The in-between starts throwing regimen. The on again, off again dominance. The cryptic post-game comments.

 

But Tuesday night -- 22 days after throwing the last of his 249 World Baseball Classic pitches -- the Red Sox starter wasn't hard to figure out. He wasn't good and he wasn't right. And all signs pointed to the unavoidable reality that came with participating in the preseason event that had trouble written all over it.

 

"We had a talk with him the other day about this. We knew that he was just, I don't know if fatigued or what, but came out of the WBC and felt probably like he had ramped up too quick," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona after his team's 6-5, 12-inning loss to the A's, at the Oakland Coliseum. "All the things we were worried about. And then he threw his bullpen and assured us he was fine."

 

Matsuzaka was anything but.

 

In his lone frame, the Sox' No. 3 starter allowed one fewer hit and four more runs than his bullpen would in pitching the final 10 2/3 innings. Matsuzaka's pitch count was one more than the total number of strikes thrown by the reliever who came on for him in the second, Justin Masterson. He also boasted a fastball that hit 91 mph just once, with his next-best heater touching 90 mph.

 

"It was a similar result to last time," said Matsuzaka through translator Masa Hoshino, referencing his 5 1/3-inning, four-run, 10-hit outing against Tampa Bay, "and I feel very apologetic."

 

Upon coming into the dugout following that first inning he was told that would be it, according to Matsuzaka. Red Sox manager Terry Francona had made up his mind, but for good reason.

 

"I was told pretty quickly," Matsuzaka said.

 

The Red Sox saw this coming the moment the pitcher committed to play in the WBC. They held their breath. Then came almost an entire spring training away from the team. They took another gulp. But when the signs of fatigue and soreness went from off days to the game day, it was time to exhale.

 

It appears the Sox are done. Daisuke had his chance, now it's their turn.

 

"Well, he didn't communicate too much. We talked to him the other day. He expressed a couple of days ago some kind of general soreness or fatigue in the back of his shoulder from the WBC," Francona said. "We thought we talked it through pretty good in Anaheim and he came out tonight and didn't really have a whole lot. We'll re-evaluate him in the morning."

 

When asked about Francona's comments regarding the "soreness" and "fatigue," Matsuzaka displayed an expression of confusion and said through Hoshino, "I haven't gotten a chance to speak with the manager after the game ended, but for me personally I think I'm OK."

 

The Red Sox, and most who have witnessed Matsuzaka perform in his first two outings, wouldn't agree.

 

Everything from the velocity to the command to the overall sharpness has taken a downturn with each start since returning to the mound for the Red Sox for a March 30 spring training game in Orlando against the Braves. In that game, it looked as though Matsuzaka might have made it through the pitfalls of the WBC without being worse for wear.

 

Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said following that game against Atlanta, "I thought his approach today was very similar to what we saw at the end of last season." 

 

That was then, this is now, and little that Matsuzaka exhibited against the A's resembled the pitcher who walked off the Tropicana Field last Oct. 16.

 

Even after the initial concern popped up following his 5 1/3-inning, nine-hit, four-run outing against Tampa Bay, the Red Sox were OK with relying on Matsuzaka's own self-analysis. And when he assured the Sox brass following Saturday's bullpen session in Anaheim that he was good to go, the team was willing to hope the WBC-induced trend might reverse itself.

 

"I guess that's why we talked to him, to see if we should," said Francona regarding the decision to start Matsuzaka against the A's. "I'm going to have to take some blame because after talking to him, I thought we were in pretty good shape. If anyone needs to shoulder some blame it would be me.

 

"He's tested real well the whole time strength-wise. That's been very encouraging. Ever since he showed up, he's gone through all of (assistant trainer) Mikey (Reinold's) stuff and he's tested real strong. The way he said it is, there's some ups and downs. He's always said that in the past. We've heard him say that before. Again, I know I'm harping on it a little bit, but I think he probably tried to ramp up too quick and we're feeling the effects of it."

 

So, with 6 1/3 innings under Matsuzaka's belt for the 2009 season, in which he has allowed nine runs on 14 hits while throwing 143 pitches, the question turns to the pitcher's immediate future.

 

Matsuzaka remained optimistic about pitching Monday.

 

"For now that's my intent," he said, "but I won't know for sure until tomorrow until we have those discussions."

 

The Red Sox? Well, they saw the effects of what happened when Matsuzaka was reeled in late last May and early June when he was placed on the 15-day disabled list for rotator cuff tendonitis. Seven shutout innings in the Game 1 of the American League Championship Series still cuts a powerful image.

 

No longer will there be hypotheticals thrown around when it comes to Matsuzaka's participation in the WBC. It is, officially, what it is. And the Red Sox are going to make every effort to ensure it doesn't happen again.