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All that mattered was Daisuke Matsuzaka.

What was wrong? Why couldn't he figure out these hitters? What happened to him when runners got on base and he had to pitch out of the stretch?

A combination of four scoreless innings from the bullpen and one steaming slugger took Matsuzaka off the hook despite the home team being down by five runs in the first inning. After four innings from Mariners starter Horacio Ramirez and five innings from Matsuzaka, the teams were tied at a touchdown apiece.

"I still think the story line of the game is the offense coming back and picking up Daisuke," said Brendan Donnelly (1-1), who took the win and combined with Kyle Snyder and J.C. Romero (save No. 1) to shut out the Mariners for the rest of the evening.

Though, even with his insistence on the team nature of this game, Donnelly didn't mind sitting back and enjoying Ramírez's at-bats.

"I enjoy it a lot, because I can't get him out," Donnelly said, although Ramírez is just 2 for 10 with one home run off him in his career. "Right now I don't have to worry."

No, but the Mariners did. And two home runs through a devilish wind didn't take any of that worry away.

"The timing was perfect," said manager Terry Francona. "The first one he hit didn't end up going out that far, but to get it out tonight, some of those balls they hit to center field were crushed. And then the ball he hit to right, the ball was absolutely leaned on. He hit that ball like a power lefthanded hitter.

"I can see why he probably admired it."

Just steps from the batter's box, Ramírez's arms flipped up, hands out, to celebrate a shot that landed just beyond the bullpens in right field for the Sox' eighth run of the evening. It was Ramírez's 475th home run, tying him for 27th all-time, although Ramírez (as usual) didn't respond to entreaties for comment after the game. That wasn't important.