Why pitch from the stretch the entire game? "Pitching from the stretch usually makes it tougher for me to offset batter's timing (with different pitches), but I had good control today, so...Up until now, Igawa would typically step forward with his right foot, and then slide it towards batter to get a firm hold on the ground. But this was a method suited only for the softer mound of Japan. He couldn't do that with harder mound of Major League. Still without a solution, Igawa went on the road for the first series in Boston. There he met up with his fellow countrymen Matsuzaka and learned that Dice-K had anticipated this and already changed his pitching form 2 years ago to adapt to the hard mound. When Igawa knew that Matsuzaka had worked hard overcoming the same problem, he began to practice on his own as well. However, when he came out to relieve Karstens, Igawa still wasn't sure if his new form would work -- as what went through his mind at the moment was, "I just hope I don't make it worse for the team."