Theories thrown out there on Matsuzaka

Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his third start for the Red Sox tonight in Toronto, where he'll have the benefit of pitching indoors, which is much closer to what he's accustomed to than the cold weather in which he made his first two starts.

But back home in Japan, questions are being raised about whether the differences in the baseballs he threw in Japan and the brand used by Major League Baseball account for the irregular appearance of the sharp slider he threw with such effectiveness for the Seibu Lions.

A website devoted to all things Daisuke -- Matsuzaka Watch (matsuzaka.blogspot.com) -- cited a television program broadcast by NHK last week in which an astrophysicist showed on tape how the difference in the baseball, especially the more slippery surface of the MLB ball, was affecting the rotation of Matsuzaka's slider.

Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said neither Matsuzaka nor Japanese teammate Hideki Okajima has complained about the ball affecting his ability to throw the pitches he wants.

"I think we acknowledge there are differences in the ball," Farrell said. "There's no doubt about it. The actual size [the Japanese ball is slightly smaller]. Here, the seams are higher than the ball in Japan. The texture, I think, has a lot to do with how the ball is prepared for the game, how it's rubbed up.

"As far as actually affecting his slider, I can't say that is a definite reason. In his previous start here, he was opening up early, compared to the game in Kansas City. That will make the break a little longer, not as sharp and as powerful as he showed in Kansas City and at times in spring training. I wouldn't attribute that to the ball."

Farrell said he never has actually seen the Japanese ball. "I wish I could tell you I have, but I haven't," he said. "They rub it up with a fine sand, vs. the mud here, so there's no residue left after they rubbed it. You know, we've got that kind of film on there. They do import cowhide for baseballs -- I don't know if it's from the States or where it comes from, but the sand and mud make a difference."

Farrell said the cold, which means there's not as much perspiration to grip a pitch, also could be a factor.

"I think it might be a combination of a number of small factors, but I don't think there's any one [factor] that stands out, that he can't throw the pitch."

He said Matsuzaka has not shown a reluctance to throw the slider.

"I think the usage of all his secondary stuff, he's followed Jason's lead," Farrell said, referring to catcher Jason Varitek. "As Jason sees one pitch at a given time being more effective than another, he's going to ride that pitch and call it a little bit more. For instance, in Kansas City, he didn't break out his forkball until the fourth inning. Seattle was a pretty aggressive team, so it wasn't like he got deep into a lot of counts. So I don't think usage of [the slider] is caused because he's not feeling it or he's not [comfortable] with the ball.

"I think we haven't seen the slider we've been made aware of [at times]. I think the conditions, the elements, do have some effect. I wouldn't attribute it to the ball. We've done some things in the bullpen to address that. He'll take his time to rub them up, to make sure he's got a good grip on it. I think the other night, the quality of the pitch might not have been as great as in Kansas City, but that was just a matter of overthrowing."

Manny Ramírez is profiled in this week's New Yorker, reading material that is as likely to be seen inside a baseball clubhouse as Crochet! Magazine.

"He is perhaps the closest thing in contemporary professional sports to a folk hero, an unpredictable public figure about whom relatively little is actually known but whose exploits, on and off the field, are recounted endlessly, with each addition punctuated by a shrug and the observation that it's just 'Manny being Manny,' " writes the author, Ben McGrath. "When I asked his teammate David Ortiz, himself a borderline folk hero, how he would describe Ramírez, he replied, 'As a crazy [expletive].' Then he pointed at my notebook and said, 'You can write it down just like that: "David Ortiz says Manny is a crazy [expletive]." That guy, he's in his own world, on his own planet. Totally different human being than everyone else.' "

The article was arranged through Ramírez's agents and not the team, club spokesman John Blake said yesterday.

The author covers a lot of familiar terrain -- he recounts the story, first told by Sara Rimer in her brilliant 1991 series on Ramírez's Washington Heights high school in the New York Times, of Ramírez living with his parents and three sisters in an apartment with no phone, each morning running up a hill with a tire wrapped around his waist.

Sox general manager Theo Epstein is not quoted in the piece -- former GM Dan Duquette is -- and no member of the current Sox ownership is, either, save for a brief "rite of passage" comment from CEO Larry Lucchino regarding Ramírez trade talks. Manager Terry Francona is quoted only tangentially.

McGrath had what he described as a nine-minute conversation with the left fielder in spring training, much of which evidently was spent discussing places Ramírez would like to visit on vacation, as well as cars. "I like to travel, man," he told the magazine. "I been to Europe, you know, Spain. Dominican, Aruba, Costa Rica. Just to learn about different cultures. You know where I want to go? I want to go to China. I want to go and see -- it's a city that I don't know how to say the name."

He was speaking about the Forbidden City, in Beijing, McGrath writes. "I saw it on the History Channel," Ramírez said. "They do a lot of tours over there."

McGrath did have one semi provocative description of the Sox left fielder: "Ramírez's appearance -- he styles his hair in dreadlocks, wears a uniform cut for a sumo wrestler, and smiles broadly and indiscriminately -- hints at this extracurricular flakiness, and even gives off a whiff of pothead. (In 2002, he requested that the song 'Good Times,' by Styles P, be played over the Fenway Park PA system before one of his at-bats, and unsuspecting fans were treated to lyrics such as 'Every day I need a ounce and a half . . . take a blunt, just to ease the pain . . . I get high, high, high.')"

The Sox announced that the makeup date for Sunday's rainout with the Angels will be Friday, Aug. 17, as the day portion of a day-night doubleheader. Fans holding tickets to the April 15 rainout may use those tickets for the Aug. 17 day game . . . Wily Mo Peña had a tough time in his first start, fouling to first base on the first pitch he saw, then whiffing twice sandwiched around a walk. Peña is expected to start tonight against Blue Jays lefthander Gustavo Chacin.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.