BOSTON — Daisuke Matsuzaka never found a “go-to‿ pitch last night.

He could not consistently throw a strike with his fastball, or his cutter, or his changeup, or his curveball. That was evident early, when he walked three of the first five hitters he faced.

Whatever catcher Jason Varitek called, Dice-K had trouble hitting his spots with it. Even when the Red Sox right-hander had a big lead — 7-1 in the fourth — he wasn’t able to just pound the strike zone and force the Yankees to hit their way back into the game.

Nor was he able to put away New York hitters when he did manage to get ahead of them, or get two strikes on them.

Matsuzaka threw a total of 116 pitches in five innings, hardly the command Boston needed on a night when the Red Sox bullpen was thin, with manager Terry Francona saying before the game he wasn’t going to use Hideki Okajima or Jonathan Papelbon. Only 62 of those pitches (53 percent) were strikes.

Of the 25 batters Matsuzaka faced, 12 of them saw at least five pitches in the at-bat. The long at-bats escalated Dice-K’s pitch count inning by inning — 14 in the first; 21 in the second; 25 in the third; 33 in the fourth — until the fifth, his final inning, when he threw 24.

Maybe Matsuzaka gives the Yankee hitters too much credit. He was 2-1 with a 6.12 earned-run average in four starts against New York a year ago as a big-league rookie. He lasted a total of only 25 innings, though, in those four starts, done in by high pitch counts as well as Yankee offense.

Maybe it was just a tough night to pitch, the weather frosty and windy. The Yankee pitchers didn’t exactly have pinpoint control, either.

But inconsistency plagued Matsuzaka last year. Last night’s outing, after three solid starts, was distressingly reminiscent

Out of control

Phil Hughes may very well become the superstar pitcher the Yankees expect him to be.

The rookie right-hander, though, showed in the first inning he has some refining to do before he reaches that point.

He threw a whopping 39 pitches in the first, only 20 of which were strikes. Of those 39 pitches, 30 were fastballs, generally in the 90-91 mph range. And three times in Varitek’s at-bat, with runners at second and third and two outs, Hughes crossed up catcher Jose Molina. The third miscommunication resulted in a run-producing passed ball that gave the Sox a quick 3-0 lead.

Hughes lasted only two-plus innings, surrendering five hits. The score was 5-1, Boston, when he handed over a first-and-second, none-out jam to Ross Ohlendorf, whose ineffective relief tacked on two more earned runs to Hughes’ total as the Sox’ advantage swelled to 7-1.

Hughes threw 65 pitches, only 35 of which were strikes. Over his last five innings, Hughes has nibbled and misfired his way to a whopping 152 pitches, an average of roughly 30 pitches per inning, hardly a recipe for success.

The best around

It is no news flash that Manny Ramirez is a great hitter.

Add this at-bat to the examples of Ramirez’s prowess.

In the first inning, with runners at first and third and one out, Hughes first six pitches to Ramirez were fastballs. The count was 3 and 2, and Ramirez fouled off a full-count pitch. One of the fastballs came in at 88 mph, the others at 91.

Finally, Hughes and Molina tried to fool Ramirez by throwing him a breaking ball. It was a decent pitch, maybe up a little, around the thigh, but the location was away, moving off the plate. It arrived at the plate at only 74 mph.

Ramirez, though, adjusted beautifully to the change in speed and rotation of the pitch. He kept his hands back, leaned over the plate and drilled an RBI single to right-center, putting Boston ahead, 1-0.

Add Manny’s third-inning at-bat to the list of examples, too.

Again the count ran full. This time, Hughes and Molina, mindful of the way Ramirez had leaned over the plate and nailed the breaking ball in the first, tried to sneak an inside fastball past him. Ramirez simply adjusted again, ripping a short-hop single off the glove of third baseman Alex Rodriguez who barely had time to take a half-step to his left in an attempt to snag the bullet.

All talk, little action

New manager Joe Girardi promised his Yankees would play an aggressive style of baseball, especially on the basepaths.

But heading into last night’s game against the Sox, New York did not have a stolen base.

Girardi tried to play aggressively after Johnny Damon walked, leading off the game. He put on the hit-and-run on a 1-and-1 pitch to Robinson Cano. The Yankee second baseman fouled off the pitch, sending Damon back to first.

On a 1-and-0 pitch to the next hitter, Bobby Abreu, Damon took off for second and slid in safely with New York’s first stolen base of the season, in the Yanks’ 13th game. It was New York’s second-longest stolen-base drought to begin a season. The Yankees opened the 1948 season with 16 games without a stolen base.

Damon boosted the Yanks’ total to two stolen bases when he swiped second base in the third inning.