Dice-K, V-Mart and Tek

As people began calling for Jason Varitek to be Matsuzaka’s personal catcher after last night’s game, Dice-K had some nice words about V-Mart:

“Victor did point out one thing that helped me prepare for this start,” Matsuzaka said, declining to go into specifics. “It helped me avoid putting myself in a tough position. It was really an important part of how we approached the game.”

The two had trouble working with pitch calling in their last game together but smoothed things over in a meeting with Francona earlier in the week.  Jason Varitek showed why he is the team captain with this unselfish remark after being asked if he should be Matsuzaka’s personal catcher:

“I need to play when [Martinez] needs not to play,” Varitek said, “not when [somebody in particular] is on the mound.”