"If Curt Young has figured out Daisuke Matsuzaka, he's already earned every penny the Red Sox ever will pay him.

Two starts after Young altered Matsuzaka's between-starts throwing routine and encouraged him to be more aggressive within the strike zone, Matsuzaka continued to impress in a 10-3 loss yesterday to the Cardinals.

Just days after shutting out the Tigers for five innings, Matsuzaka carried another shutout into the sixth before the Cards touched him for a two-out run. He departed and then watched the bullpen implode, but it hardly detracted from another stellar performance.

He went 52/3 innings, allowing three hits and two runs. He walked two, struck out four, and challenged hitters in a way that is not always his forte — with a fastball that reached 94 mph.

"Just like last outing I was able to throw strikes using the breaking ball, and also I had great life on my fastball," Matsuzaka said. "It was not necessary to throw to the corners because my fastball was strong enough to throw down the middle."

Matsuzaka, who at one point retired 12-of-14 batters, wasn't touched for a run until after he retired the first two batters in the sixth. Albert Pujols followed with a walk, and Matt Holliday plated him with a double to right to end Matsuzaka's afternoon.

"I'm pretty much ready for the season, but I would like to work on more and keep pitching well," Matsuzaka said. "The first objective of spring training was to stay in the rotation, so that's good. I don't particularly mind the order of the rotation. I would like to show good results."

Matsuzaka was particularly effective against Pujols, popping him up twice before the walk. Matsuzaka used the at-bats against the Cardinals star to gauge the effectiveness of his fastball."