Unfortunately, everything that mattered in this one involved Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the hole he dug for his team made all of those highlights relatively insignificant.
In the latest grim reminder that it all depends on starting pitching, and that Boston's has not been good, Matsuzaka spotted the punchless Tampa Bay Rays seven runs in two innings, setting the stage for a 16-5 rout that dropped the Red Sox into a last-place tie with their American League East rivals.
The fact that it came on heels of Josh Beckett's gem only emphasized the fact that Matsuzaka was not on his game. A clearly disappointed Matsuzaka referenced the momentum that was there for the taking, and his inability to seize it.
"As you can see, the result didn't follow through," Matsuzaka said through interpreter Kenta Yamada. "I feel sorry for the team as well as the fans."
What made the outing, which saw the righty give up eight hits and two walks in two-plus innings, particularly jarring is that Matsuzaka, a guy known to be unpredictable with his results, found a new way to sink the ship. Matsuzaka's issues usually lie in his inability, or reluctance, to throw strikes. In an uneven career, opponents entered Monday hitting just .244 against him. Even when he struggles, it rarely involves hard hit after hard hit. But that's what came against the Rays, the weakest offense in the majors entering the night, at least from a statistical standpoint.
Essentially, he gave them too much to hit too many times.
"We've seen a lot of inconsistencies with the strike zone, in and out," manager Terry Francona said of Matsuzaka in the past. "Tonight, he was right down the middle. They squared up a lot of balls in a hurry."
That they did. In an otherwise solid top of the first, Matsuzaka gave up a solo homer to Johnny Damon.
The fact that all 12 of Matsuzaka's pitches that inning were strikes may have looked nice on the new video boards at Fenway, but it was only a harbinger of things to come.
Ben Zobrist doubled to start the second. B.J. Upton drew a walk and Felipe Lopez singled to load the bases. The next three batters each drove in two runs and each did so on the first pitch they saw, balls thrown right down the middle. There was John Jaso's two-run double, a two-run single for Reid Brignac and the capper was Sam Fuld's two-run homer that made it 7-0 with still nobody out in the second.
"We got shellacked," Francona said.
It had sapped the life from the fans who just 24 hours earlier had watched one of their starters absolutely dominate a far superior lineup. The contrast was striking.
"How many times do you hear people say momentum only goes as far as your next starter," Francona said. "It's true. We felt great that Beckett pitched as great a game as you're going to see, and we're in the second inning swimming upstream."
To illustrate just how hittable Matsuzaka was, the Rays got seven hits out of their first 11 batters of the game. They failed to even reach the seven-hit mark in all but one of their first nine games of the season. Tampa Bay fell four runs shy of doubling their season total in one night. Matsuzaka is now 2-7 with a 5.83 ERA in 13 starts against the Rays.
When he was finally yanked with two on and no outs in the third, the boos rained down upon him with ferocity. Much of it has to do with frustrations pent up during Boston's 2-8 start, but Matsuzaka knows that his effort was worthy of such a reaction and only he can rectify the situation.
"Nobody really wants to get a booing from the fans and the only way I can change this is to have a good showing [next time]," he said.
That opportunity comes Sunday at home against Toronto, a team that knows what to do with balls left out over the heart of the plate.
