"There are times when it seems like Daisuke Matsuzaka is oblivious to the outside world.

For all the outrage Matsuzaka's inconsistent starts cause, the Red Sox pitcher never shows much emotion. Matsuzaka doesn't interact much with his teammates, and in his fifth year removed from Japan, he still conducts his interviews through an interpreter.

But Matsuzaka wasn't immune to the negativity after his dismal start to the season, when he went 0-2 with a 12.86 ERA.

Before taking the mound at Fenway Park yesterday and earning the win in a 9-1 Sox victory against the Toronto Blue Jays, Matsuzaka's most recent outing was a two-inning, seven-run pounding at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays. After Matsuzaka served batting practice-quality fastballs down the middle of the plate, the Sox chose to push his scheduled start Saturday against Toronto to yesterday.

With a full week between starts, Matsuzaka had time to reflect on his poor performance.

Evidently the extra time helped, as he turned in his best start since last June against the Blue Jays. Matsuzaka threw seven scoreless, one-hit innings, limiting Toronto to just a Jose Bautista first-inning single.

The offense was led by scorching shortstop Jed Lowrie (4-for-5, home run, four RBI), and the Sox' third straight victory allowed them to leave home happy for a nine-game road trip that begins tonight in Oakland against the Athletics.

"I tend to have a little bit of a negative aspect and I tend to think many thoughts from listening and hearing from people," Matsuzaka said through his interpreter. "The biggest thing is I tried to not think too much about my outings. All I can do is pitch my best, and the result will follow through after showing my best performance. The time between the last game and today's game, I had time to think about it and tried to think more simple. .?.?. If I did pitch badly, I thought there wouldn't be the next chance.""