Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka delivers a long-toss during the team’s spring training workout yesterday in Fort Myers, Fla.

AP / Steven Senne

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The pitches kept on coming.

Fastballs. curveballs. sliders. splitters.

They weren’t being delivered in a rapid-fire fashion, but Daisuke Matsuzaka kept loading up and firing pitches to catcher Jason Varitek in the bullpen yesterday morning as part of the Boston Red Sox’ first full-squad workout of the spring.

By the time Matsuzaka was done, the right-hander had thrown 103 pitches.

If this were the middle of a pennant race in August, that pitch count would hardly raise an eyebrow.

But this total came in only Dice-K’s third bullpen session. Normally, pitchers don’t even begin to approach 100 pitches until the final start or two of spring training.

Matsuzaka, though, followed a different training regime in Japan. He has had 300-pitch bullpen sessions, and when he plays long-toss, it’s really long-toss compared to the pitchers in the major leagues. On Monday, he was long-tossing from 220 feet, and for a long period of time. That’s roughly 50-70 feet longer than the normal big-league session.

So at this stage, it’s still a work in progress for Matsuzaka, in whom the Sox have $103.1 million invested after plucking the 26-year-old from the Seibu Lions, as to how to incorporate his old work habits into Boston’s organizational pitching philosophies.

But all agreed that yesterday’s heavy workload was fine for Matsuzaka, who had agreed not to long-toss the previous day in anticipation of yesterday’s strenuous session.

"I’m trying to stick to what I’m used to doing in Japan, make it as close as possible to what I am used to," said Matsuzaka through translator Sachiyo Sekiguchi.

"I didn’t speed up the pace of how I pitch," he added. "It was nothing out of the ordinary for me."

It wasn’t just a case of launching one pitch after another, though. There was a method to the madness.

"It was a well-thought-out, structured routine," said general manager Theo Epstein, who watched the session alongside team owner John Henry.

"The impressive thing to me was that he was 80-90 pitches deep into it, and he was still working on things, pitching from the stretch, checking runners as if it were a game situation, throwing every pitch with a purpose. I would like to videotape that and show it to all our young pitchers on how to use practice," said Epstein.

Pitching coach John Farrell and Varitek were impressed, too.

"He asked two days ago about doing an extended bullpen session. He said he needed to work on some things. He threw 100 pitches, but at a pace that wasn’t overtaxing him physically," said Farrell.

While Farrell says he is learning how Matsuzaka can best get in shape, Varitek, who has caught all three of Dice-K’s bullpen sessions, continues to learn more about his new pitcher’s arsenal. Yesterday gave him a lesson or two to file away in his memory bank.

"He stayed pretty consistent the entire time, mechnically sound," said Varitek, who saw Matsuzaka’s splitter for the first time. "He’s able to work both sides of the plate with some giddyup on it. It’s not games yet, but I got to see another gear from him today."

skrasner@projo.com