Matsuzaka earns rave reviews

Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell makes a leaping catch for an out on Ranger Ian Kinsler in the fourth inning. (TONY GUTIERREZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry elected not to disclose where he watched Daisuke Matsuzaka win his big league debut Thursday, but he shared his reaction.

"Wonder," Henry wrote in an e-mail. "I can't remember a pitcher more fun [emphasis on fun] to watch. One has no idea what the next pitch is going to be.

"Jason [Varitek] called a great game."

Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell said Matsuzaka also impressed him with something he did after he came out following his seven innings of work.

"I like the fact that he came back out to the dugout to root the team on," Lowell said. "I like that. He's shown he's the total package. He's got it together."

One of the more surprising reactions to Matsuzaka's debut came from Japan's finance minister, Koji Omi, who criticized NHK's blanket coverage of the Sox phenom, according to the English version of the Mainichi Daily News.

"Considering the overall news balance, there's a problem with taking up issues like this every morning on NHK's 7 o'clock news," Omi was quoted as saying.

Omi praised Matsuzaka following a Cabinet meeting. "It's very good that people are becoming global, just like the economy, and that good people are discovering new spheres."

But, he added, according to the newspaper: "If NHK doesn't start to spend a bit more time broadcasting what's happening in the world, its significance as a public broadcaster will probably start to fade."

Two hits in his first 15 at-bats. A .133 average. A four-strikeout game in Kansas City, the sixth 4-K game of his career. Three ground-ball outs in an 0-for-4 in yesterday's 2-0 loss, including two ground balls smacked directly to an overshifted defense.

It's this way every year, David Ortiz said. "I have the same experience, go through this every year, where the first five, 10 games, I'm fighting; fighting to get a hit."

Maybe it takes Ortiz that long to get comfortable, but he wasn't wanting for hits at the start of last season. Through his first nine games, Ortiz was batting .382 (13 for 34), and had five multihit games.

The shift? "I'm used to it," he said. "I don't think about it anymore. When I hit the ball in the right place, they won't catch it."

Ortiz, of course, is hardly alone in his slow start at the plate. Collectively, the Sox are hitting .227, and have just one home run in their first four games, by Kevin Youkilis in Kansas City Wednesday off Royals reliever Todd Wellemeyer. Toronto and Detroit also began play last night with just one home run.

Julian Tavarez, who was the team's pick to fill the No. 5 spot in the rotation when Jonathan Papelbon elected to remain the closer, makes his first start tonight. He'll face Rangers ace Kevin Millwood (0-1, 5.40), as the Rangers elected not to use a fifth starter because of an offday.

"I wait for tomorrow," Tavarez said. "I'll watch a little baseball, rent a movie, relax, watch some videotape, then, 4 o'clock, come to the park and get ready for the game. I'd like to go seven strong innings and give my team a chance to win."

Tavarez, incidentally, is one of the Sox players who carries a Japanese-English dictionary, though he said he hasn't given it much of a workout with Matsuzaka or Hideki Okajima.

Has Tavarez taught them some of the more pungent expressions in his native Spanish? "No," he said. "They know those already."

Reader Charlie Fletcher notes that while Lowell's three-error game Wednesday was the first in a regular-season game by a Sox third baseman since Butch Hobson in 1978, Bill Mueller was charged with three errors in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series against the Cardinals. Fletcher's recall may have been helped by the fact that Mueller did so on Fletcher's birthday . . . The Portland Sea Dogs' opener was snowed out for the second straight day . . . Brandon Moss, so impressive in spring training, got Pawtucket's season off to a great start with a first-inning grand slam in a 7-4 win over Charlotte Thursday . . . Canton's Bobby Witt, one of the ex-Rangers who took part in yesterday's pregame ceremonies, works with agent Alan Nero and counts Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester among his clients . . . Framingham Lou Merloni turned 36 yesterday. Merloni is playing for the Sacramento River Cats, Oakland's Triple A affiliate . . . Doug Mirabelli was 0 for 3 in his first appearance of 2007. Francona let Mirabelli hit in the seventh with two outs and Coco Crisp aboard on a walk from Texas starter Robinson Tejeda. Francona's explanation: "Jason Varitek can't catch all 162 games."