ANAHEIM, Calif. — When David Ortiz thinks back to Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first season with the Red Sox, he cracks a quick smile.

Big Papi loves to have fun, and he and his Red Sox teammates made sure to try to have as much fun as possible with their new Japanese pitcher last year. That was the easiest way for the Sox to roll out the red carpet and make Matsuzaka’s transition from Japanese idol to major-league rookie as smooth as possible.

“Last year was his first year and he’s coming from the other side of the planet to America,” said Ortiz. “We got him on the bus last year singing. In Spanish. We had the rookies singing on the last road trip and he came out with it. It was pretty funny.”

This season, Ortiz and the Sox have seen a different Dice-K.

“Now he’s part of the family. He has learned a lot, how to speak English and things like that and he has a lot of fun,” Ortiz said.

When the Red Sox clinched a playoff berth last week at Fenway Park, Ortiz and Matsuzaka found themselves in the middle of the champagne and beer-soaked celebration. Both wore goggles as they frolicked with their joyous teammates.

The Matsuzaka who will take the mound for the Red Sox in tonight’s Game Two of the ALDS against the L.A. Angels is a different pitcher, too. While his pitch counts all too often still quickly zoomed to more than 100 in his starts — he walked an American League-high 94 batters — Dice-K is a new and improved pitcher.

He shrank his repertoire, remained in great shape with a lighter workload in between starts, and shaped his routine toward staying strong into the fall.

That added up to an 18-3 regular-season record and a 2.90 earned-run average, third-best in the A.L. Opposing hitters averaged a mere .211, best among A.L. pitchers.

Matsuzaka will oppose the Angels’ Ervin Santana (16-7, 3.49) tonight, and if the series lasts five games, he’ll be the pitcher Terry Francona hands the ball to with the season on the line.

“I think it’s easier this year for him to concentrate on pitching,” Francona said. “Everything he did (in 2007) was a first and it was flashbulbs going all the time. If somebody made contact in spring training, it was big news, ‘What’s wrong with Dice-K ?’ The expectation level was very unfair.”

Matsuzaka’s second season has gone smoother in many ways. Despite landing on the disabled lost for a month in June with a strained rotator cuff, he’s been nothing but a survivor. He sprinted out to an 8-0 start in his first 11 appearances.

After the stint on the D.L., he suffered his first loss June 21 to St. Louis but responded with a summer filled with outings in which he’d always seem to get himself into a bit of trouble but kept finding ways to extricate himself.

“That’s his trademark as a pitcher,” pitching coach John Farrell said. “That’s the way he pitched in Japan, where he obviously was very successful. You look at his 18-3 record this year. A couple things stand out with Dice-K: He’s a tremendous competitor and he’s never going to give in to a certain hitter.”

Farrell said Dice-K has willingly made several key changes with his pitching from last year.

First, he’s shrunk his pitch mix. No more gyro ball, for example.

“Last year he was a guy that tried to get four or five different pitches involved in his attack mix,” Farrell said. “This year he’s been more refined with a two-seam fastball, a four-seam and a cutter. He’s not throwing the split quite as much.”

Matsuzaka has adjusted to the smaller strike zone in the United States, learned the ins and outs of the team’s travel demands and reduced his off-day workload.

“The number of pitches he throws in between starts now has been curtailed from 75 to 90 pitches in between starts down to 45 or 50,” Farrell said. “He’s got such a good feel for his body and how he feels on a given day, and that’s what he uses for his guide.”

That brings Matsuzaka to tonight and the glare of the playoffs. He was 2-1 in four starts during last year’s postseason. His worst start came against the Angels, when he lasted just 4 2/3 innings after surrendering three runs.

The Red Sox expect a very different result tonight from the pitcher they insist is a very different, and much-improved, Dice-K in 2008.

kmcnamar@projo.com