Last modified: Sunday, April 1, 2007 11:54 PM EDT Inside baseball has Sox going all the way in 2007 BY TED NESI FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE The Boston Red Sox don't begin their regular season until 4:10 p.m. today in Kansas City, but the verdict is already in from former major leaguers: The 2007 Sox are looking good. "I think they look great," said Joe Johnson, a former pitcher for the Atlantic Braves and Toronto Blue Jays who now lives in Attleboro. "They've got everything on paper if everybody can stay healthy. They're impressive. Even the guys they have in Triple-A are impressive." Jim Dorsey, a former Sox pitcher, agreed. "I think they stack up pretty good," he said. But Dorsey warned Sox fans that this year they should keep an eye not only on the pinstripes in the Bronx, but also on the birds to the north. "Toronto's going to win" the American League East, Dorsey declared. "I hope that the Red Sox do win it, but if I do have to pick an outsider I would think Toronto instead of the Yankees. Toronto has really improved their team." Dorsey added, however, that he thinks the Sox "are going to be right there in the wild card," pointing to their shored-up pitching staff. They have "the best starting staff in the league," he said. Johnson has also been keeping an eye on the Red Sox pitching staff, particularly their new ace, Daisuke Matsuzaka. Although he has yet to see "Dice-K" pitch, Johnson said if the rumors about his versatility are true, Matsuzaka will be a force to be reckoned with. "From what I understand he's got four or five pitches he can get over (the plate) and throw strikes, so if you can throw strikes with that many pitches, well, they don't know what's going to hit them," he said. Baseball aficionados have been intrigued by Matsuzaka's unorthodox pitching philosophy, which he sums up with the Japanese word "doryoku," meaning unflagging effort. The Tokyo-born right-hander embraces a strenuous throwing regimen unheard of in American baseball today. But Johnson said Matsuzaka's attitude reminded him of the advice he received as a Braves pitcher from legendary pitching coach Johnny Sain. "He believed that the more you threw, the stronger your arm got," Johnson recalled. "Now, if you're throwing properly, I believe that to a degree, because he was in his 60s and he could still throw." Johnson added, "I think throwing every day is good to keep you stretched and loose." Johnson noted another major change in professional baseball he sees compared to when he was a player. "The players seem to have more power and more say in what they do," he said. "For me it was a just matter of, you know, you do what the manager says, you give it everything you've got. And today there seems to be a group of players that seem to want to play when they want to play."