"And now it's Daisuke Matsuzaka's turn. With so much focus on the fate of the starting pitching staff in the opening series in Texas and then Josh Beckett losing in his debut last night against the Indians, Matsuzaka has been a forgotten man through the season's first week.

But the right-hander will take center stage when he makes his first start of the season after an encouraging spring training.

"I thought all spring, his arm strength was really good, coming right out of the chute," manager Terry Francona said before a 3-1 loss to the Indians. "I know he had that second and third game where the results weren't very good. But I thought the ball came out of his hand real well."

Matsuzaka started the spring 0-1 with an 11.42 ERA, but finished it at 0-2 and 4.97, allowing just three runs over his final 14 Grapefruit League innings.

He's hoping to reverse a trend of the last two years. After winning 33 games in 2007 and '08, he has gone 13-12 with a 4.99 ERA since.

Perhaps most encouraging of all is the fact that Matsuzaka will open the season healthy for the first time since 2008. In 2009, the World Baseball Classic and a lack of conditioning did him in. Last year, he arrived at spring training with a sore back and ended up missing the first month of the season."