Daisuke Matsuzaka won again last night. That puts him at 6-0 on the season. Aside from issuing an alarming amount of walks (30 so far, 8 in his previous outing--which he won), his 2008 numbers are impressive.

In just under 43 innings, he's given up only 28 hits and 13 earned runs while striking out 40 batters for an ERA of 2.45, which is fourth best in the American League.

This is clearly a different Dice-K than last year's rookie edition. Funny, but as he continues undefeated, I haven't heard a peep from his chorus of detractors about the $105 million that was "wasted" on Japan's greatest pitcher. People were getting so up in arms last year that you'd think those who were complaining were the ones who wrote that infamous posting fee check of $51,111,111.11 instead of John W. Henry.

Salary is never talked about when a player is delivering. When he falters, however, it's the main topic of conversation. We're all guilty of it, myself included. Case in point: Julio Lugo. The blogs and forums these days are full of frustrated and angry fans (of a first place team, mind you) who are leading off their online gripes with "I can't believe we're paying this guy $9 million a year!" (I love the "we" fans. "We" should have won last night. "We" should have been more aggressive on the base paths. "We" should have taken Lester out in the 6th. "We" should have signed Johan Santana, etc. Sorry, tangent. That's another post for another day.)

If Dice-K can cut his walk total in half, what the Red Sox have is a solid number two starter for this year and in all probability, a co-ace (along with Josh Beckett) for the next seasons to follow as Matsuzaka continues his steady transition from Japanese to American baseball.

Red Sox fans may find themselves asking, "What's the matter with Papelbon?" after the normally lights-out closer lost two games in two appearances.

The answer is nothing at all.

Closers blow consecutive saves all the time. Then they continue mowing down batters as if nothing's happened. I recall a few seasons back when Mariano Rivera went through a rough patch and I (stupidly) thought to myself, this guy's finally done. After all those years of dominance, he can't save a game for the life of him!

But before I could finish rubbing my hands together and laughing like a mad scientist, Rivera was back to his normal self, striking out hitters and racking up saves. Of course, Rivera's the greatest of all time, so that was wishful thinking on my part. And, by the way, to those who said Joba Chamberlain should take the closer's role and the Yanks shouldn't have re-signed Rivera for huge money, take note: Mariano Rivera is one of only three closers yet to blow a save this season.

I've always wondered how much the intimidation factor of facing a closer inhibits a batter from getting on base. When facing guys like Rivera and Papelbon, it seems like hitters approach the plate with a count of 0-2 already against them, as if they have no chance to make contact. Is it possible that Jonathan Papelbon's ninth inning bravado has been overshadowing his mechanics? The downside for the competition is that he'll probably refocus on his delivery and return to 1-2-3 game enders in his next appearance. If so, the lessons of those two games will serve as a reminder that on any given day, any major league hitter can get the best of a closer.

But it won't happen very often.

A thousand strikeouts over 1055 innings in his major league career. Not a bad stat for Josh Beckett, a week shy of his 28th birthday. Chicago's Kerry Wood holds the record for the fewest innings needed to hit the 1000 K mark. Wood did it in an amazing 853 games, but then as you know, his history of arm injuries held him back and certainly diminished his ability in recent years.

Of course, it's the next thousand that will be tougher for Beckett, who was the 422nd pitcher to reach the milestone. There are only 62 players to reach 2000 Ks, and just 16 pitchers who have topped the 3000 K list. Nolan Ryan, the King of the K, holds a record in MLB that will never be broken: 5714 strikeouts. The move to a 5-man rotation in the 70s combined with the more liberal use of the bullpen won't give today's pitchers the opportunity for innings that Ryan had back in his heyday. Not to take anything away from Nolan. For his career, he racked up his 5714 strikeouts over just 5386 innings. To finish an MLB career at age 46 averaging more than one strikeout per inning is remarkable.

For Josh Beckett, who grew up idolizing fellow Texans Ryan and Clemens, he downplayed the significance of his feat. "It's a cool milestone. It means you've been around for a while and gotten your share of strikeouts."

fa•nat•ic    /fəˈnætɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronuncifuh-nat-ik

1. a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.

Or sports.

------------

By now you've probably heard the story. The woman in the photo drove her car into a small crowd of people, injuring one and killing another. The man who died was a Red Sox fan. The driver of the car, a Yankees fan.

Here's the story.

Before I continue, let me say that the roles easily could have been reversed here, with the Red Sox fan murdering the Yankees fan. Drunks and morons can be found everywhere.

I'm not going to delve too deeply into this crime. I just want to make a few points:

1. Don't drive drunk. You learned this in school when you were a kid. Enough said.

2. Taunting people can be a bad idea. You meet someone in a bar, you find out they like someone or something you don't. You poke fun at them. You intentionally antagonize them for your own twisted pleasure. Last thing you see is a car coming straight at you. There's no time to regret what you did to incur this woman's wrath. You die from massive head trauma.

3. The Yankees don't suck. So now you're dead and the last thing you shouted was, "Yankees Suck!" Don't you feel silly? Your final words weren't even true! What a way to go! John Quincy Adams said, "This is the last of earth! I am content," before he passed. You said, "Yankees suck!" See the difference?

4. There is no real rivalry. It's all marketing, folks. Didn't Hank Steinbrenner recently talk about the chance of a possible business venture with the Red Sox sometime down the line? Wasn't John Henry a small shareholder of the New York Yankees from 1991 through several World Championships in the late 90s? Didn't Alex Rodriguez and Jason Varitek (they of the infamous glove-in-the-face fight) share the same agent until this past offseason? Didn't Manny Ramírez upset Red Sox fans more for having a beer with former Yankee Enrique Wilson in 2003 than not playing in a game because he said he was sick?

5. The Red Sox don't suck either. I know this because the Yankees don't suck. Have you noticed these teams have become eerily similar over the past several years? I'll leave you with this question:

Of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, which team fits the following description?

• Proud owner of multiple World Series titles in the past 10 years

• Bloated payroll, bursting at times with some bad contracts paid to overrated or over-the-hill players

• Smart GM struggling at times with ownership

• Signed Johnny Damon to a 4-year deal

• Stayed in the Johan Santana talks only to keep the other team from signing him

• Recently rebuilt farm system, calling up prospects to play at the major league level

• Bid millions of dollars just to negotiate with a Japanese free agent

• Rabid fan base (see above)

And that's just off the top of my head! I'd keep going, but the Sox-Tigers game has already started. My point here is that it's fun to debate or even root against your designated rival. But when it goes beyond that--when lines are crossed, when it gets ugly--the fans lose every time.

While listening to part of Sunday's game in the car, I heard Dave O'Brien mention that the Rays considered last week's sweep of the Red Sox to be the most significant series they've played in the Devil Rays' 10-year history. I suppose they saw it as their stepping stone from lowly cellar dwellers to upstart tail-kickers of the reigning World Champions and contenders for this year's trophy.

Well, that didn't last long.

As if in response to Tampa Bay's blustering, the Red Sox spent the weekend grabbing the Rays by collar and giving them the bum's rush back to reality. Not sure where this series sits in the great pantheon of past Tampa Bay glories, but for a team convinced that a late April sweep means something more than three wins in a row, it's a significant wake-up call at the very least.

The Rays are much improved, but it seems that their new attitude merely equips them to battle it out for fourth place with the Baltimore Orioles. Give the Rays two more years and if all goes well, they may be fighting for more than the honor of drafting in the first round because they secured yet another finish at the bottom of the pile.

• Iron Man? Just one day after hammering a long home to dead center and throwing out a player at the plate, Brandon Moss found himself at Mass General having his appendix removed. Don't expect him back for a while. This latest episode of Red Sox E/R should effectively end any trade discussions for Coco Crisp.

• Mr. Softy? From the Say It Ain't So Dept: Seems the rookie who can do no wrong may have a little bit of J.D. Drew in him. After a mild groin strain kept Jacoby Ellsbury out longer than expected, Terry Francona had this to say about the difference between playing hurt and sustaining an injury: "Sometimes you go out and you take an 0-fer for the team and we can still win. I'm not pointing a finger at Ellsbury because I think he's a pretty tough kid. I guess my point is you're not always going to be 100 percent. I don't know that we can wait for guys always to be 100 percent or we won't ever be able to field a team."

• Rehab Bartolo Colon, recovering from an oblique strain, will pitch two innings in an extended spring training game on Monday before another evaluation by team doctors. If all goes well, he'll head to Pawtucket. If you'll recall, Colon had an option to explore free agency after May 1st, but given his injury and the comfort he's feeling with the organization, he has pushed the deadline back a month. This will give Colon time to see if he's good enough to crack the rotation. If he is, but there isn't a spot open, he can latch on to another team.

• Shields Shelled How do you go from tossing an effortless two-hitter against the Sox on Sunday to getting yanked from the game in the fourth inning against the same team just six days later? Tampa starter James Shields didn't have much of an answer. "I felt after [Friday night's loss] I needed to pitch better tonight. And I disappointed the bullpen, I disappointed the team. I'm not too happy."

• Beckett Benefits Looking at the final score of last night's 12-4 win, you'd think Josh Beckett cruised along without an issue. But early on, the Tampa Bay offense was getting on base and scoring. Before Manny Ramírez threw out a runner at the plate, the score was 5-4 and the bases were loaded with Devil Rays. Boston's ace did settle down after that, allowing just one run over 4-plus innings.

• Kazmir's Comeback Bad timing for Jon Lester and the Red Sox as Tampa Bay's ace, Scott Kazmir, makes his season debut this afternoon at Fenway. Kazmir has recovered from an elbow strain and appears ready to resume his role of Red Sox nemesis. From the MLB pitching matchups: "In nine starts at Fenway Park, he is 4-3 with a 2.73 ERA, including 59 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings. Kazmir is 6-5 with a 2.66 ERA in 17 career starts against the Red Sox, who are hitting just .218 against him." Yikes! Let's hope Jon Lester can continue the excellent pitching he displayed on Tuesday against Toronto. A sweep against these Rays would be sweet revenge after last week's debacle at Tropicana Field.

There's a reason why Baseball America voted the Red Sox farm system the second best out of 30 MLB organizations. Seems like just about every player they call up contributes to the team's success. Last night was no exception as the Red Sox opened their series against Tampa Bay at Fenway, a week after getting swept at the Trop by the upstart Devil Rays.

After a two and a half hour rain delay, rookie Clay Buchholz took the mound and delivered a sometimes shaky, yet winning performance as the Sox easily beat the Rays, 7-3. Brandon Moss, called up after Coco Crisp's brief hamstring injury and hanging around while waiting for J.D. Drew to recover, blasted a home run to straightaway center field which began the eventual undoing of promising Tampa Bay starter, Edwin Jackson.

Moss also threw out a runner at the plate. He's just the second Red Sox rookie to homer and have an outfield assist in the same game since a young Trot Nixon did it in 1999.

Tonight, Josh Beckett opposes James Shields, who shut out the Sox with a 2-hitter last Sunday. They'll need the ace to keep the Tampa Bay bats under control if Shields is even close to commanding the strike zone like he did last week.

OK, no sweep of the Jays on Thursday, but taking two out of three is impressive considering the Sox only scored three runs in the entire series.

A.J. Burnett may be injury prone, but he's a Sox killer when healthy. Still undefeated (4-0) against Boston, pitching's version of J.D. Drew shut down the offense, as he outpitched Tim Wakefield for a 3-0 Toronto victory. I'm beginning to see why Schilling, back in '04, deemed Burnett the guy with "probably the best arm in the big leagues."

Strange end to the game as Toronto's soon-to-be-fired manager, John Gibbons, was  tossed in the bottom of the ninth after a late balk call kept a possible Red Sox rally alive. Closer B.J. Ryan (B.J., A.J., J.D.--what's with all the initials?) got Coco Crisp to pop out, seemingly ending the game as the players began to leave the field. The balk call, from second base umpire Bruce Dreckman, gave Crisp a second chance, so after Gibbons was ejected for arguing, Coco lined a single, advancing Brandon Moss to third. But any attempt at a rally ended when Ryan got Jed Lowrie looking at the strike to end the game, for good this time.

Pitchers' duel. Low score. Sox score a dramatic bottom of the ninth run on a rally started by David Ortiz. Vernon Wells makes a throw home to stop the winning run but Toronto comes up short in the end. Papelbon gets the win, even though the starter deserved the victory following a strong outing.

Hey, Steve, didn't you post that story yesterday?

Indeed I did, keen observers. But it happened again last night at Fenway, although rather than a 1-0 victory, the Red Sox slipped past the Blue Jays 2-1. And Vernon Wells did throw out a runner in the bottom of the ninth (pinch runner Jed Lowrie), but the exact same situation arose when the very next batter, Jason Varitek, hit another single in Wells' direction, but this time, speed demon Manny Ramírez managed to slide home in time for the win.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, like Jon Lester, has been the target of some fair criticism regarding his efficiency on the mound, but he was very tough last night, blanking the Jays over seven innings, allowing just two hits and two walks.

So can the Sox go for a third straight low-scoring win in their last at-bat tonight? Don't count on it. A.J. Burnett can be, at times, one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball, although this season he's sporting an ERA of 6.07. Tim Wakefield goes to the hill tonight for the Sox, toting his 4.06 ERA.

1-0? 2-1?  I'd guess something closer to 6-5.

Break out the brooms. It's time for a sweep.

It was pretty cold for a late April game last night. Tracey and I had to deal with some last-minute sprinkles, but otherwise the weather cleared up a tick before game time. So I guess the chilly air circulating around the park was the only drawback to an otherwise exceptional Fenway experience.

I've been to a lot of games, but I'm pretty sure this was the first 1-0 instant classic I've seen live. Games like these rarely happen any more. The funny thing about it is the first few innings seem frustrating and lackluster to fans of American League baseball. We're programmed to expect the offense to be cranking out hits and runs at all times. Last night we had the opportunity to watch a genuine old-school pitcher's duel.

It was thrilling to see Dustin Pedroia's defensive gem that stopped a run from scoring, along with the dramatic lone run driven home in the bottom of the 9th--a Kevin Youkilis single that plated David Ortiz. But last night, pitching was the story.

I think if the game had gone the other way, with Toronto nipping the Sox by a run, I might have been inclined to write about how impatient the Boston lineup seemed against Halladay. The reality is that Toronto's ace is so good when he's on his game, it doesn't matter what the count is. He's going to throw strikes. If you're patient, you'll take a called third strike. If you're aggressive, he'll make you look silly, as he did to Manny Ramírez, who went down at one point like he was trying to swat a fly with his 32 ounce Louisville Slugger. Tough break for him to take the loss after throwing a complete game.

Jon Lester, who has been inconsistent at best this season, and arguably the weakest link of the five-man rotation, looked like he was mirroring Halladay's performance, inning for inning. Although he didn't get the win, he deserved it as he dominated a tough Toronto lineup for eight innings, powering his fastball for strikes and working in a changeup that kept the Blue Jays off balance for the duration.

If this is a sign that Jon Lester has turned the corner, then the Sox will be in great shape this season. If it's just a blip, an aberration lost in a string of mediocre performances, then I'll look back on this performance years from now as "what might have been" that great lefty starter, Jon Lester.