"I guess you could say I'm getting more and more used to it, but it's not something I really think about," he said. "A lot of it has to do with how everyone perceives me. That may be one of the results."
Matsuzaka gave up an opposite-field home run in the second inning to Jack Cust, the ultimate all-or-nothing Oakland slugger, and just one other hit in 6 2/3 masterful innings in which he struck out nine and did not walk a batter. With Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon making a one-run lead stand up and batterymate Jason Varitek knocking in the go-ahead run with a double that might have been a home run, Matsuzaka had his first win of the season.
He also had sufficient motivation to ask a clubhouse attendant to retrieve the game ball, which someone (the evidence points to Papelbon) had tossed into the stands.
Matsuzaka wanted the ball as a souvenir for his newborn son, whose name he has not yet made public.
"I had asked my teammates to hang onto the game ball, but I guess the message didn't get through," he said.
Given his emotional state after striking out the side in the ninth inning of a four-out save, Papelbon probably had no idea what he'd done with the ball. It would have surprised no one if he said his dog ate it, like last October's World Series ball.
There was no question which side of the Big Pond Papelbon prefers.
"From my last outing to today's outing, it was a totally different pitcher, a totally different feel, a totally different person," said Papelbon, who entered with a runner on first and two outs in the eighth and retired pinch hitter Mike Sweeney on a force play, then struck out Travis Buck, Mark Ellis, and Daric Barton in succession.
"I don't think that my outing in Japan really signified the vintage Papelbon," he said. "I feel like tonight I signified that."
Matsuzaka, who had a no-decision in Boston's 6-5, 10-inning win in his first start, set the tone last night by striking out the first two batters he faced, Buck and Ellis, and allowed only four balls out of the infield. The last time he pitched without issuing a walk was last May 30.
