Boston Red Sox Bump Off The Phillies But Matsuzaka Injured

It was a good news/bad news Saturday afternoon for the Boston Red Sox. The good news? They thumped the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 10-2 but (the bad news) they learned that Daisuke Matsuzaka injured his right forearm in his pre-game warmups. He is the second starter to be placed on the DL this season. Josh Beckett (back) was the first but he's been improving steadily. We'll see him back in there within 10 days. Here's Daisuke...

“I think I could’ve been pitched through it. But we talked about it and decided there’s no sense in trying to compensate and making mechanical adjustments just to get through it. So that was the decision. It’s not a joint issue. It’s muscle soreness. So I don’t think it will take long to heal."

Thank goodness he didn't try to "pitch through it." Atchison was the unexpected fill-in starter and he was more than OK. He was able to go 3 innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 2 hits, walking one and whiffing two. The bullpen took over from there and put up goose eggs for the last six frames. It was Delcarmen, the eventual winner, Okajima, Ramirez and Jonathon Papelbon, who pitched the 9th. It was Boston's second in a row over the National League powerhouse. On a side note, Daniel Nava, who was called up from Pawtucket and made his first ever major league start, pounced on his very first MLB pitch and clubbed a grand slam home run. He ended up with two base hits and I would be surprised NOT to see him in there today.

Speaking of today, Timmy Wakefield will face the 5-5 Hamels in the series finale. Next up will be Arizona. So far so good with this inter-league campaign but I'm not the biggest fan of playing National League teams until the World Series. It is what it is. Some AL teams are fortunate enough to play the non-successful teams and some are not.

That's a wrap for this Sunday morning post. You can click on this post's title for more Red Sox this and that and as always, BE WELL. Go Green! Game 5 with the LA Lakers is tonight at the Garden on ABC and ABC HD. The series is tied at 2. A must game? Oh yeah.