A "W" is a "W"

Well Daisuke finally got that first Fenway win, although for a while it looked a little dicey (must... stop... bad... puns...). But in the eternal rivalry that is Red Sox versus Yankees, even a messy win is first and foremost a win, and hopefully now that our Japanese hired arm has satisfied the home audience he can settle into something more like what we saw during his debut performance in Kansas City.

As for his plunking of his opponent Alex Rodriguez in the first inning, this is what Matsuzaka had to say for himself:

“With such a hot and talented batter, the thing you want to do as a pitcher is pitch inside to him,” Matsuzaka said. “As I was watching the games the previous two nights I didn’t really think we were pitching too inside to him, so I was definitely very conscious of pitching inside to him.
“But hitting him on that pitch was purely an accident.”

We know that's what you had to say, Dice-K, but you can't argue with results - after hitting A-Rod on their first meeting and reclaiming that inside corner of the plate, Matsuzaka went on to strike out Rodriguez two times, keeping his white-hot bat silent while he was on the mound.

Keep those 'accidents' coming, Daisuke, and you'll do just fine in Red Sox Nation.