No Support (Yet), But Matsuzaka Justifying The Hype

Daisuke Matsuzaka, who last night felt he had the best grip on the ball of any of the 3 starts, has a 2.70 ERA. He has been given a total of five runs of support, so his record is a 1-2.

             IP   H  ER  BB   K   SOX
0405 at KC    7   6   1   1  10   4-1
0411 vs Sea   7   8   3   1   4   0-1
0417 at Tor   6   3   2   3  10   1-2
Totals       20  17   6   5  24

John Farrell:

He was dominant throughout except losing his release point for those four batters [three walks and Overbay's hit]. The perplexing thing is he walked three batters that inning and then he came back, got locked in and threw only six balls the next two innings.

He also threw only six balls in the first two innings. Dice's play-by-play:

1: P9   K  43
2:  K   K   8
3: P4   K  1B  L8
4:  K  1B  BB  1B  BB  BB  K  8
5:  K   K   K
6:  K  43  P9

Dice will face the Yankees in each of his next two starts, Sunday night at Fenway and next Thursday in the Bronx.

Matsuzaka is the first rookie since Fernando Valenzuela to strike out at least 10 batters in two of his first three starts. He is the fourth Red Sox pitcher to have at least two 10-strikeout games in his rookie season: Dave Morehead (1963), Roger Clemens (1984) and Aaron Sele (1993) each had three.

Blue Jay hitters discuss Matsuzaka. ... Video of some of Matsuzaka's post-game interview.

Hideki Okajima used his changeup to strike out the side in the seventh. He has 8 K in 6.2 innings. ... Jon Lester had to throw a 75-pitch side session on Monday after Greenville manager Gabe Kapler made a mistake with Saturday's lineup card, making Lester ineligible to pitch.

Coco Crisp, David Ortiz and DeMarlo Hale will wear Jackie Robinson's #42 on Sunday night against the Yankees.

RSN Watch: Tim Roy and his two kids left their house in Kittery Point, Maine, at 4 AM on Tuesday, so they could make the drive to Toronto, take a quick nap and get to Skydome for the game.