But it will be hard to see knuckleballer extraordinaire Tim Wakefield dropped from the starting rotation this week, especially in favor of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and even harder knowing Hideki Okajima and the Sox bullpen couldn’t hold a three-run lead Sunday in his last start for a while. Someone had to be dropped, and it wasn’t going to be Clay Buchholz (ERA 2.70 as of April 26). So Wake, as he always does, will be the loyal soldier and pitch wherever, whenever. He’ll never get booed.
As for Dice-K? I’m sure Francona planned for him to make his ’10 debut away from the Fenway Faithful knowing that they will likely boo him for withholding a big injury last season, as we learned a few months ago. Of course, winning cures (or at least delays) all ills. And given the schedule, a second winning week in a row is what the BoSox are expected to have, no matter who is in the back end of the rotation. So far, despite the ugliness of Monday’s game, so good.
Article comments
1 - Charlie Doherty
You know, watching the Red Sox sometimes is like watching an episode of "24": there's bound to be new twists with the club you didn't see coming but probably should have.
In this case, Fabio Castro's stint with the big club Sox was apparently meant to be shortlived and on an emergency basis in case Buchholz had a short outing (he went 8 strong innings last night), as he has been sent back down to the minors today to make room for Alan Embree, who was going to leave the Sox by Friday if not called up.
So the old man will get a shot with the Red Sox - his second go-around with the team - after all.