Dice-K Rebounds From Rough Start To Down A's, 6-4

I tweeted this early in tonight's Red Sox-Athletics game:

I turned out to be pretty wrong and I admit it.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was actually quite good in the Red Sox's 6-4 win over the A's on Wednesday night. Dice-K went 6.2 innings and allowed just three runs -- all in the first inning. He did allow 10 hits, but guess what? Zero walks. A goose eeg in the walk category. Nada. Combine that with seven strikeouts and, well, we saw Good Dice-K by the time this game was over.

Want to know the best part about Dice-K's start? Of his 109 pitches, 84 went for strikes. That's 77 percent. I wish I could find the tweet that referenced this, but he hasn't done that in a long time.

The rest of the game looked like this:

• Marco Scutaro was hot at the top of the lineup, going 3 for 5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
• Dueces were wild for David Ortiz: 2 for 2 with a home run, two RBI and two walks, including an intentional walk. Ortiz hasn't been intentionally walked since 1938 (not actually a true stat). The Papi home run gave the Sox the 4-3 lead. It was exactly what the Sox needed.
• DMac went 2 for 3 with a stolen base in the 9-hole. That's nice to see.
• Dustin Pedroia had a hit. That's a two game hitting streak. He proclaimed after the game: "I'm going after Joe D. That's two in a row; only 55 more." No, he actually did say that.
• The bullpen: Daniel Bard was great. He earned the strikeout to end the 7th with a runner in scoring position in at 4-3 ballgame. He finished with 2 strikeouts in 1.1 innings. Papelbon wasn't that good, though, giving up two hits -- including a home run -- and struck out one in his save. Certainly not the prettiest thing.

The Sox can sweep the A's in a 1:35 p.m. start tomorrow.

Click the jump to see the night's top posters.

The rest of you: TRY HARDER!