Daisuke On 15 Day Disabled List

It was apparent that something was wrong with Daisuke Matsuzaka after his one inning five run stint the other day. Yesterday he was placed on the 15 day disabled list for what the team is calling shoulder fatigue. Boston manager Terry Francona explained it quite well..

"We just want him to be able to be Daisuke, and not part of Daisuke, so we’ll put him on the DL and have him looked at tomorrow and we’ll put our heads together and see what’s the best way to get him to make all his starts and be good. I don’t think there’s an injury. As a matter of fact, I know there’s not, but it looks like he’s got some fatigue, kind of like last year. He’s got to build the shoulder strength back up and feel good about himself.”

I agree with the team's decision to put his 2009 season on hold and take care of this in April and April only. The Sox might replace him with reliever Justin Masterson. They probably will, in fact, because Clay Buchholz has a muscle strain after he did some strength conditioning drills. Boy, I have to say these nagging injuries are bothersome and numerous, to say the least. Let's hope they'll be confined to the beginning of the season. Knock on wood if you can. I just knocked on my head. Same thing.

After the much needed day off today, Boston will play four against the Baltimore Orioles, who have gotten off to a great start. I'll put up the pitching matchups first thing Friday morning...we know that Matsuzaka and Beckett will not be pitching. Beckett, on suspension, will miss one start and one start only. That's OK. But if he appealed that ludicrous decision to sideline him for six games, he WILL be pitching. Right now, I'm not sure, but I'll have the four game pitching matchups up early tomorrow morning. Until then and as always, BE WELL. Click on this post's title for more on Timmy Wakefield's complete game masterpiece. I know (BFW) I've gotton on his case just a tad, and I was wrong. I hope he can string together many well pitched games. Believe it or not, he can do it. First pitch strikes are SO important. Yesterday, he did just that and many Oakland batters took the bait and surrendered on the first pitch with harmless grounders and fly balls. GREAT JOB, TIMMY! See ya.