Dice-K picks up where he left off

I told myself I would be more patient with Daisuke Matsuzaka this year. His overall work is better than it seems despite his inconsistent performances that are usually accompanied by lots of walks, high pitch counts and early exits.

I also convinced myself that this would be the year he pulls it all together and dominates the league to the point that even critics wouldn't question the $100 million the Sox spent for his services.

That lasted until about 2:45 today when I checked the score and saw 3-0 Rays in the 3rd. Dice ended up surrendering four runs on nine hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. The Sox scored a run in each of the 6th, 8th and 9th innings, making a game of it, but ultimately falling to the AL East champs, 4-3.

Christine's kicking herself for picking the Red Sox over the Rays. I think she knows better than to judge in April how teams will finish in October.

Moment of silence: Angels uber prospect Nick Adenhart was killed after a car accident this morning. The Angels canceled today's game; no word about their impending series with the Red Sox. Nick Cafardo struggled to find a local connection to the tragedy:

It was hard to find a link with Adenhart from any members of the Rays or Red Sox. One was Sox first base coach Tim Bogar, who was a coach on the 2006 Futures Game team that Adenhart pitched for.

"What a tragedy," said Rays senior adviser Don Zimmer. "It's just hits you hard when you hear a young man with so much talent being taken away from us. I hadn't seen much of him but I was told he was a young kid who had a tremendous future. I feel so badly for his family."

Finally: We bought a Sunday subscription to the Philadelphia Inquirer because the paper had a promotion offering Phillies newspaper covers commemorating the '80 and '08 World Championships. After more than a month, they finally arrived today.