Q.  Which version of Iwakuma was that, getting beaten by the Yankees?

A.  The second version.  Or the 2 1/2 version.  As we recall, there have been three iterations of Mr. WBC:

1. The spring training version with a short fastball and a nibble-and-pick game, the one who had MLB hitters standing on the plate and swinging from the back leg. 
2. The sharper version, with a 90 fastball he'd use inside and up in the zone, the one who is demonstrably an MLB middle-of-the-rotation starter. The Shaun Marcum comp.
3. The elite version, the one with a 82 MPH "change-slider" who dominates.  The James Shields comp.

Against the Yankees, I didn't feel the arm action was as snappy on the slider -- in fact the fastball velo was down, too, and it seemed that his arm was fatigued from the 13 K's or something.  But the slider was good, all his pitches were good, and he needed about 47 unlucky breaks to give up three earned runs.  Jason Vargas has done worse.

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Q.  Bad breaks, like what.

A.  There's a fine line between making excuses and --- > Felix Hernandez fanning 8 guys but seeing a cheap home run go 335 feet and beat him 3-1.  Sunday was the latter.

Just as a f'r instance, what say we rubberneck the big NPB-on-NPB matchup in the second inning:

 ..................................................

Look at the quality of those first two pitches?  Angel Campos visibly sneeeeeered at both of them.  Mike Blowers was all over the ump throughout Iwakuma's start.  Listen, amigo.  I'd like to see you pitch to the New York Yankees if the ump is making you throw the ball through an area the size of a license plate.

So did Iwakuma get blasted?  Did he get KO'ed in the fourth, having given up nine hits, five doubles and homers, and seven runs?  No, he cobbled a rawhide-tough near quality start.  He pitched into the 6th, gave up three runs.  Four strikeouts, only two walks despite that strike zone, and of the seven hits, two or three of them should have been outs.

In Shandler terms, this was a PQS score of 3/5 - a point for domination, a point for command, and a point for mistake avoidance.  No points for stamina or hit prevention, though he'd have had both those points if two plays had been turned behind him.  

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Q.  You said 43 bad breaks, not one tight strike zone.

A.  We're not even going into the 43 other things ... To score in the first?  Iwakuma threw Robinson Cano a hellacious shu'uto Right. On. The. Black. and 4 inches below the knees, swerving away from it.  Cano reached out and hit a 4-bounce dribbler to Kyle Seager.  Except Seager, showing the range of a Smart car on gravel, didn't get to it.  Also, the M's defense parlayed this into a 2B-and-3B situation (!?).

Men now on 2B and 3B, one out, Iwakuma facing Mark "$23M" Teixeria.  On a 3-2 pitch, Iwakuma threw Teixera a diving shu'uto that was six inches outside.  Tex leaned out and pulled a grounder to Kyle Seager.  The GameDay reads "Mark Teixeira singles on a ground ball to Kyle Seager."

And that was one of the earned runs.  Check the unearned run in the second - off an error by the FIRST baseman Ackley.  Not a good day for the M's defenders out of position.

Four times the Yankees scored one run, and three of those times it was magnificent damage control by Iwakuma.  This kind of game is almost a better testimony than an easy wipeout of the Royals.  

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Q.  Look, he lost, idjit.  Let's not make this out to be a good thing.

A.  It's a funny thing.  We know that W's, L's, and ERA can be misleading when you're talking about 30 starts.  But take it to one start and we think W and ERA are the bottom line.  :- )

No, Sunday was a whale of a start for Hisashi Iwakuma.  On a lot of levels.

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Q.  Okay, just quickly, what did he do well.  Other than nails-tough damage control.

A.  I was delighted to see him go to the shu'uto so much when the pressure was 10,000 PSI.  They used to say about Gaylord Perry, when he got in a jam that's when he threw 95% spitters.

He threw 21 sliders, 17 of them for strikes, and 4 swing-throughs.  Remember, whiffs on the slider are what keys his elite game.  He wasn't elite Sunday, maybe, but the seismo's are there for sustained TOR pitching.  Of those 21 sliders, 14 of them were "Strikes Not In Play" (SNIPS).  That is a rockin' posse of sliders, considering it is a right hand slider to (awesome) left hand hitters.

He expanded the zone (off the plate away) with intelligence and virtuosity.  He maintained his velo well through 100 pitches ... well, pitches 90-100 were off juuuuuuust a skosh.

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Q.  So this was an okay start, or a good one, or a great one gone sour?

A.  Hey, if Iwakuma were making mistakes, we'd be glad to say so.  That was not what happened.  The Yankees scored their runs on pitchers' pitches.  Give the other guys credit, too.  They're part of the game.

The home run was on a pitcher's pitch, a quality jam pitch in a pitcher's count.  What's he supposed to not throw the ball over the plate, where the umpires call it a "strike"?

You go through GameDay and it's hard to find even one really lousy pitch.  They're all well-thought-out and well-located.  Iwakuma would have butchered a lot of lineups with those same pitches.

Granted, all of this does mean that Hisashi Iwakuma is not Justin Verlander.  He's never going to be able to go out and just knock people over with overpowering stuff, in Bedard, Pineda, or Felix style.  The same is true of James Shields, Shaun Marcum, and Doug Fister - they don't embarrass people, either.  Iwakuma is a Hershiser type, not a Clemens type.

With that damage-control game, Hisashi Iwakuma moved firmly into SSI's adopt-a-player mode.  We don't say he's going 17-9, 2.95 next year.  But I'll take him over Jason Vargas, and that's saying a fair bit.

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Q.  Wait, what.

A.  If my choice is Iwakuma or Vargas, same $8M, and the meds are good on Iwakuma, I'll go to war with Mr. WBC.  I think he outpitches Vargas in 2013, especially in any kind of neutral stadium (such as all the M's road parks).  But Iwakuma will probably be cheaper than Vargas.

Go through the GameDay yourself.  Look at where those pitches are, in what counts.  Look at the variance in velocity.  ... Vargas does that too, but Iwakuma's arsenal is more incisive.  He throws harder, he's got the shu'uto, he's got three good pitches not two, and he's got an eephus curve.

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Q.  A best bet like Pineda and Seager?

A.  No, he's not in that territory - more of an adopt-a-player.  Coefficients of confidence:

If Iwakuma executes the pitches that he is throwing -- the shu'uto, the good slider, the precision-guided fastballs, the pitchability - he is going to be fine.  The question is whether he'll execute, not whether his pitches will work.  Will he execute?  Has he ever done anything but?

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Q.  Leaving Iwakuma where?

A.  You guys know that I am dearly fond of NPB pitchers.  There's a bias there.  

But there's also a bias towards courageous, intelligent pitchers who have command of four pitches.  And a bias towards starters who have a legit finish pitch, such as the shu'uto.  Right now I'm very comfortable in comparing Iwakuma to Shaun Marcum in any case, and to James Shields in the best case.

I dunno where Iwakuma's health is going to be in 2013.  But if he's hitting 90 MPH, he can pitch in my rotation any time.  I wonder what kind of money he'd want.