Daisuke Hurting, Wakefield IN The Starting Five...Buchholz Sharp Yesterday

The six man starting pitching staff for the Boston Red Sox has taken yet another hit, a hit that will allow the unscored upon Tim Wakefield to become a member of the five man opening day rotation. The oft injured Daisuke Matsuzaka had to cut short his batting practice session yesterday because of pain in his neck. Frankly, he's become a pain in ALL of our necks. Neck discomfort, possibly related to his back pain, is the latest ailment. But fret not. Timmy to the rescue! That's the way it should be. Here's Daisuke...

“I didn’t throw live BP today due to stiffness in my neck,’’ it said. “As for my schedule . . . I’m going to see how I feel today, meet with the coaching staff and decide at that point.’’

And the Red Sox skipper chimed in with this...

“We’ll go kind of day-to-day on it,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “We’ll wait and see how he shows up tomorrow, and when he feels good, we’ll repeat what we were going to do. I don’t think it’s anything besides a stiff neck,’’ Francona said. "When something like this does happen, I don’t think we have to panic,’’ Francona said.

My thoughts on this? OK, here I go. Sometimes Daisuke wants to stick with a preparation schedule unlike any other American pitcher. So far, with a 162 game schedule, he has overdone it frequently, not only when he prepared for his role in the World Baseball Classic but THIS preseason, TOO. What has to happen now is physical therapy and care. Boston hopes to see him in the starting rotation before the end of April but if at that time Tim Wakefield and Clay Buchholz have yet to lose a game, well, where does Matsuzaka fit in?? I know this...the Red Sox will not throw him out there until he is 100%. There is absolutely NO need to. None at all.

After a rainout on Friday, Clay Buchholz put on a show. Last week he allowed three runs over the span of two innings. Yesterday? He tossed one hit ball and struck out two while walking one. It seemed that he had his "good stuff" swagger back. He said this after the game...

“Control the game, that’s the biggest step I’ve taken,’’ he said. “Being able to slow down a little bit when things are getting a little wacky out there, and taking control and throwing a pitch I need to throw at that situation rather than thinking about why is this happening or anything else.’’

With Clay and Wakes in the numbers four and five spots of the rotation, that's a nice combination. Boston should win at least 3 of every five games with that scenario. Maybe more. We can all live with that.

I hope your weekend is going well as we approach sunlight on Sunday. If you'd like, click on this post's title to be zapped to something Red Sox related. I haven't found "it" yet but knowing me, I will. Thanks for stopping in and as always, BE WELL.