Orioles enjoy a walk

"When he's in a big inning, he has a tendency to rely on his fastball and generate as much power as possible and, with that, he's sacrificing location," said Farrell, following the Sox' 11-5 loss to the Orioles in which Matsuzaka lasted 2 2/3 innings, allowed eight earned runs, six hits, and three walks - two of them with the bases loaded.

"He's somewhat gone away from his offspeed pitch and hitters have had a chance to look in hard and not have to guard too much against anything soft."

It may sounds simple, but it's complex.

"It comes down to my inability to throw strikes tonight and being unable to throw strikes didn't even give [Jason] Varitek a chance to really call the game," Matsuzaka said to English-speaking reporters, though he declined to speak to Japanese reporters.

After the shortest outing of his major league career, Matsuzaka has allowed 28 earned runs over his last 26 1/3 innings for a whopping 9.57 ERA in his last five starts.

Matsuzaka, who turns 27 Thursdayallowed seven runs in the third inning because he couldn't locate his pitches. After his two bases-loaded walks, Scott Moore capped the misery with a grand slam to right-center.

It appeared Matsuzaka was going to wiggle out of the inning with just three runs in. With the bases loaded and no outs, Matsuzaka (14-12) struck out Aubrey Huff swinging and got Jay Payton to pop to second.

But Matsuzaka, who continually left his fastball in the fat part of the plate (as he did on Tike Redman's solo homer in the first inning), left a 2-and-2 pitch to Moore's liking.

Once Moore finished rounding the bases, Matsuzaka's night was over.

"Any pitcher is going to lose some sink or some life when they overthrow at times," Farrell said. "I think that's been the case here tonight. He's relied on what his instincts are and what his abilities are. I think the fact that he's into an inning where he's at 40 pitches and still at 94 miles per hour is a testament to his strength. But, at the same time, by relying solely on velocity, he's sacrificing some feel to pitch and overall change of speeds."