Cabrera and Tigers Rock Matsuzaka in His Mets Debut The last time Terry Collins saw Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch in person - a first-round matchup of the 2009 World Baseball Classic - Collins was China's manager and considered the Japanese ace to be one of the best pitchers in the world. Matsuzaka was a sensation: a recent World Series winner with the Boston Red Sox, a former W.B.C. most valuable player and the highest-paid Japanese player in history. But as the Detroit Tigers" sluggers crushed most of Matsuzaka's pitches in the first two innings of his Mets debut Friday, it was obvious that the 32-year-old Matsuzaka, who allowed five runs in five innings in the 6-1 loss, was not that man anymore. This was a different Matsuzaka that the Mets had signed Thursday: aged, arm-weary and playing for the league minimum. Collins said he was mostly pleased with what he saw Friday, despite the scoreline. Matsuzaka, who retired the final 10 batters he faced, believed it had been an important first step toward a long-term return to the majors. "I was a little bit more nervous than I expected to be," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. The home runs and hits that came in those first two innings woke me up. From the third inning on, I was able to settle down and go back to what I worked on in the minor leagues and convinced me that I can get major league batters out. Matsuzaka's first pitch, a four-seam fastball, landed in catcher Travis d'Arnaud's mitt at 88 miles per hour, a portend of bad things to come. Torii Hunter and Miguel Cabrera each hit towering home runs on pitches that were 90 and 91 m.p.h. None of Matsuzaka's pitches were harder than 91 m.p.h., and most ranged in the 87 to 90 range. "His off-speed wasn't that different," Hunter said. It broke hard. He threw a harder slider and then a slower curveball. He can still mix it up. He didn't have the velo of 95-96, of course. But we all get older. I used to run fast once. But he still has the explosiveness and keeps you off balance. At his best, Matsuzaka threw fastballs in the mid-90s and even managed to make people believe that he had a mystical gyroball that dipped in several different directions on its way home. It did not seem that Matsuzaka's pitches did much dipping Friday. "When I used to catch him in Boston, he had a little more on it," Matsuzaka's former teammate Victor Martinez said. Today his ball was pretty straight. He left a few balls up, and the big guys didn't miss. After arm troubles hampered his 2012 season - Matsuzaka had a dreadful 8.28 E.R.A. in 452/3 innings for the Red Sox - he found few free-agent offers. He signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians, but he failed to get a call-up this season after posting a 3.92 E.R.A. for Class AAA Columbus. Sensing he would not get an opportunity to pitch in the majors, Matsuzaka was released this week at his request, becoming a free agent, and the Mets signed him. With recent injuries to Jenrry Mejia and Jeremy Hefner, and with the front office not wanting to increase the innings load on some of their young pitchers in the minors, the Mets had few better options than Matsuzaka. The Mets needed Matsuzaka, who reportedly had no other major league offers after his release, almost as much as Matsuzaka needed the Mets. "He had pitched well in his recent outings," General Manager Sandy Alderson said. "And he fit nicely, with a little bit of a nudge since he's pitching on three days" rest this time, into our rotation. We're happy to have him, and it fills a need for us from now until the end of the season. Curiously, Matsuzaka was given Dwight Gooden's No. 16 jersey, something that might have seemed more appropriate more than six years ago during Matsuzaka's heralded arrival in the United States. The Boston Red Sox paid a $51 million posting fee merely to negotiate with Matsuzaka's representative, Scott Boras. By the time the contract had been signed (six years, $52 million), Boston had invested more than $100 million. It was the most money ever paid for a Japanese pitcher until the Texas Rangers invested more than $112 million to sign Yu Darvish in 2012. Asked what he remembered about Matsuzaka when he was being shopped around to teams in 2006, Alderson said: "Besides his price tag? It's hard to remember anything else. As he struggled with his command and velocity Friday, it was hard to remember that Matsuzaka was once considered one of the best pitchers in the world. Mets third baseman David Wright, on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain, took grounders on the field for the first time since sustaining the injury Aug. 2. Terry Collins said Wright, who has also begun to run inside a pool, could possibly be ready as soon as Monday to head to Port St. Lucie, Fla., to continue his rehabilitation at the team's spring training facility.