The question was meant to be harmless, amidst a slew of other inquiries about Daisuke Matsuzaka’s outstanding outing.

The right-hander had completed his best outing of the year, and indeed, one of the best outings of his Red Sox career. And so, as he took stock of the sundry reasons for Matsuzaka’s excellence, Varitek was asked whether his presence behind the plate might have had anything to do with the pitcher’s effectiveness.

“That has nothing to do with it. I think it has to do more so with he’s into his third start. I’m Victor’s backup,” Varitek said, emphasizing the last two words to leave no uncertainty about the situation. “[The pitchers are] going to have good and bad starts with both of us, no matter who it is.”

Victor, of course, is Victor Martinez, the everyday catcher of the Sox, the man whose arrival in Boston in the middle of last season heralded a decline in Varitek’s playing time. Accustomed to everyday work behind the dish, Varitek has instead been relegated to part-time status, catching once or twice a week, and appearing in fewer than half the Sox’ games thus far this year.

It would not have been at all surprising had the Sox captain become embittered by the arrival of Martinez. Nor would it have been unusual for Varitek to feel entitled to a bigger stake in playing time, given not only his history with the Sox’ starting staff, but also his tremendous performance thus far this year.

Varitek clubbed a homer to left field and went 2-for-3 with a walk in his team’s 6-1 victory over the Blue Jays (recap). He is now hitting .342 with a 1.287 OPS and a remarkable six homers in 38 at-bats. Martinez, meanwhile, is hitting .250 with a .683 OPS and three homers.

On a team that has its fair share of displeasure based on the roles of Mike Lowell, David Ortiz and Tim Wakefield, an unhappy Varitek would represent a particularly divisive issue. Yet rather than resent Martinez for taking the playing time that was his, Varitek has instead forged a remarkably strong relationship of mutual respect with his fellow backstop.

A few snapshots illustrate the dynamic.

Right after the Sox traded for Martinez at last year’s deadline, Varitek sat at length with him in the Baltimore clubhouse to discuss the pitching staff as well as game planning for the Orioles.

At the end of the 2009 season, following the Sox’ elimination against the Angels, Martinez sought out Varitek in the cluttered clubhouse and embraced his teammates, with the two discussing quietly how much they had enjoyed working together.

Prior to Tuesday’s start, Martinez wandered into the clubhouse looking for Varitek, stopping by the captain’s locker for a conversation that quickly turned into robust laughter.

Rather than viewing their successes as zero-sum, the two players typically express delight in each other’s accomplishments, and go out of their way to defend each other from criticism. That has been the case virtually since the first day that they were teammates, when the two players immediately gravitated towards one another.

“I just encouraged him that I’m here to be his teammate and to help him any way I can,” Varitek said earlier this year. “He’s a gamer. I think I liked him and respected him from the get-go. He’s got a good personality, playing against him even. He has a little fun. He works hard. He’s a good hitter, good player. It helps that he’s such a good dude, and good teammate. We connected from the get-go.”

“He’s amazing, the way Jason goes about his game is amazing,” Martinez noted recently. “I really look at him. I really want to be that way. He’s a guy who it’s pretty tough to get out of the game. I just love his game. He plays the game hard no matter what.”

Such sentiments have transformed a potentially volatile situation into a source of strength on the Sox.

Here are other items we learned on Tuesday:

MATSUZAKA MADE A POWERFUL STATEMENT

Through much of his time with the Red Sox, Daisuke Matsuzaka has been accused of nibbling, falling in love with off-speed pitches that result in poor contact either because of their ability to deceive or because he operates on -- and often just off of -- the corners.

On Tuesday, it was a different sort of Matsuzaka. There was no uncertainty, no effort to nibble.

He attacked from the first batter of the game, when he fired four straight 91-92 mph fastballs, much to the surprise of leadoff man Fred Lewis, who watched all of them en route to a strikeout.

That started an early pattern. Through the first three innings, Matsuzaka threw either fastballs or cutters on 41 of his 48 pitches, in the process garnering eight swings and misses and five strikeouts (a mark that surpassed his season high).

By the end of the game, 75 of the 106 pitches that he’d thrown were fastballs. He was a pitcher armed not only with stuff but the confidence to use it to its fullest, as evidenced by his remarkable final line:

7IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 9K

Matsuzaka, the man who led the majors in walks in 2008 with 94, was operating in a fashion rarely seen. He had made just six prior starts for the Sox in which he hadn’t allowed a walk. His strikeout total was his highest since he punched out nine (also in a game with no walks) against Oakland on April 1, 2008.

“Any time you can get through seven innings and not allow a walk, that’s pretty impressive. That’s a big, big confidence boost for him and our pitching staff,” said Varitek. “He had late life on [his fastball]. He was for the most part directly through the zone where he was trying to go. He had some misfires. But he was so strong, he was able to get through some of the misfires and set up his breaking balls for the rest of the game. He was really powerful.”

The Sox pointed out that Matsuzaka was not far off from such a commanding performance in his prior two big league starts this year. In his first start, on May 1, he allowed just one run through four innings before getting hammered for six runs in the fifth. In his second outing, he allowed a four-run first but then conceded just one run over his remaining 4.1 innings.

Those outings had promise, even if the end results were disappointing for the pitcher. His performance on Tuesday, however, was among his best in Major League Baseball. Indeed, Matsuzaka described it as such.

“I think so. Since arriving here, I think this game is the one where I felt the most comfortable using my fastball,” said Matsuzaka. “It’s not easy to have an outing like this every time. And it’s not easy to maintain this level of pitching. But I think I went through this offseason training with this sort of pitching as my goal. This was the first time I was able to do this tonight, and I’m glad.”

THE CAPTAIN CAN CONTRIBUTE ON THE FIELD, TOO

As Varitek made clear, he has no designs on displacing Martinez. Even so, to date, he has offered tremendous value as a backup.

The 38-year-old’s six homers in just 38 at-bats represent an extraordinary rate. There are a few factors at work in his excellent start.

First, the fact that Varitek is not the everyday catcher has spared his body from its usual beating.

“He’s worked hard. He’s taking extra swings,” said Sox manager Terry Francona.  “At the same time, besides the ball that hit his forearm the other day, I think he feels pretty good physically. He’s not been beat up real bad. You can tell by the way he’s been swinging. That bat’s not dragging through the zone.”

Varitek has also used his time diligently. While some players struggle to remain sharp at the plate when dealing with part-time play, the catcher has used extra free time to get extra work on his swing, which seems more compact and fluid (especially from the left side) than when he has endured deep slumps in the last couple of seasons.

“We’ve made some adjustments. Trying to make some adjustments in my swing,” said Varitek. “We’ve worked hard. I’m a lot healthier than I was. That’s a good thing.”

That said, the catcher suggests that he remains a work in progress at the plate and in his new role. He noted that it can be “exhausting” to have to prepare to enter a game in which he may or may not actually play.

Nonetheless, to this point, he has clearly gotten a good handle on his responsibilities. As such, the Sox have not suffered when he has been in the lineup in place of Martinez. To the contrary, the Sox enjoy a 6-4 record in games started by Varitek, compared to a .500 mark (12-12) when Martinez is behind the plate.

YOUKILIS IS A BRUISER

Kevin Youkilis got hit by a pitch from Dana Eveland, marking the 63rd time in his career that he’s been plunked. He is one shy of Jim Rice for second all-time on the Sox’ list, and there seems a decent shot that he will surpass Mo Vaughn’s Red Sox franchise record of 71 HBPs sometime this year.

ON THE INJURY FRONT…

--Josh Beckett will almost certainly miss his start on Friday, Francona said, after tweaking his back while taking batting practice on Monday. However, the Sox were relieved to know that the pitcher avoided a more serious injury.

--Mike Cameron went 1-for-3 with a walk and strikeout in his second rehab game for Triple-A Pawtucket. He also played center field for seven innings, handling a pair of fly balls.

“It sounded like he felt real good physically,” said Francona.

Cameron will spend Wednesday getting checked out at Fenway Park, and then return to the PawSox to resume his rehab stint on Thursday. He and the club estimate that he will be ready to return to the majors after a four- to five-game rehab assignment.

--Jacoby Ellsbury showed progress on Tuesday, running the bases aggressively.

Still, the Sox aren’t certain when the outfielder will be ready to start a rehab assignment, though they haven’t ruled out this weekend.

--J.D. Drew showed no lingering effects from the vertigo that forced him from the lineup on Monday. He returned on Tuesday, and collected a pair of hits (one a bunt single, his first bunt single since July 6, 2004, when he notched one as a member of the Braves against the since-relocated Montreal Expos) and stole a base.

--Ramon Ramirez said that he felt “great” after firing a scoreless inning in his first outing since since encountering triceps tightness against the Yankees on Saturday.