Long after this one was over, Matsuzaka sat staring into his locker. When he arose, he whacked a clubhouse wall with his arm before heading upstairs for his obligatory session with the media of two continents. Most of his teammates made themselves scarce, in no mood to discuss another defeat on an 11-game homestand fast becoming forgettable.
"We're getting hits," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We're not stringing them together or getting them with two outs. You go through some things -- bad luck, not enough [luck]. They say you make your own luck or breaks, but we're not doing enough to make it better."
The White Sox waited out Matsuzaka for six walks, three of which were converted into runs by A.J. Pierzynski, who singled home Chicago's first run in the first and knocked out Matsuzaka with a two-run single after Matsuzaka had walked the bases loaded in the sixth.
"He pitched himself into a box," Francona said, "where you give up a single and it's a couple of runs."
Chicago strongman Paul Konerko then added an insurance run when he homered off Okajima to start the eighth, the first home run allowed by Okajima since John Buck of Kansas City homered on the lefthander's first pitch in the big leagues, 172 batters earlier.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh and the leadoff man on in the eighth against the White Sox but failed to score against one of the league's worst bullpens. Facing minor league call-up Ryan Bukvich in the seventh, Manny Ramírez came up a few feet short of hitting a home run into the center-field triangle, the ball run down by center fielder Jerry Owens, and Kevin Youkilis whiffed.
"That ball goes out and we win the game," Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo said of Ramírez's drive.
Mike Lowell blooped a single to open the eighth, but Jason Varitek grounded into a double play and Wily Mo Peña, playing for the injured J.D. Drew (tender hamstring), flied to center.
