August 11, 2008

Wakefield Gets Cortisone Shot; Hansack Or Zink On Tuesday

Tim Wakefield (right shoulder stiffness) will miss at least two starts. Which is not ideal, as Terry Francona acknowledged, but "pitching at half-speed for the next 10 [starts] is not what we're looking for, either. ... If we act now, this will be (just a little while)."

Wakefield will be examined today and given a cortisone shot. The stiffness is similar to what he experienced late last season. ... Michael Bowden is scheduled to start for the PawSox today, so it looks like either Devern Hansack or Charlie Zink will get the ball on Tuesday night.

With Wakefield out and Bartolo Colon not due back until September, the Red Sox will likely have to stay with a struggling Clay Buchholz in the rotation and ride out his on-the-job training. Mike Lowell on Buchholz:
I think his pace of game has to improve. I don't know if he's thinking too much. I'd kind of prefer him to just go out there and fire because he's got good stuff. ... It's that consistency thing. It's everyone. It's the pitcher, it's us as hitters. I think that's what we look ... It sounds so simple, but it's not that easy.
Colon pitched three innings (34 pitches, 27 strikes) for Pawtucket yesterday, allowing three hits and no runs. After the game, he left the team to be with his ailing father in the Dominican Republic.

Dustin Pedroia's road hitting streak is at 29 games. The Herald reports that "according to the best research currently available", the club record is Tris Speaker's 32-gamer from June 17 to August 11, 1912.

NY Post: "That tick ... tick ... tick ... you hear is the countdown to a Yankee-less October."


That's very nice, but it would behoove the Red Sox (4.5 GB East, 1.5 GA WC) to get their collective ass in gear.

6 comments:

A little night musing said...

Wow. Just read about the propane explosion yesterday. Glad you are OK.

It made me think of The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread...

efd said...

but it would behoove the Red Sox (4.5 GB East, 1.5 GA WC) to get their collective ass in gear

Indeed. I was expecting some more Schadenfreude today, but it's just as well... it's easy sometimes (at least for me) to get caught up in anti-MFY passion while losing sight of the true objective. In my case, at least, I think it's just a reaction to living in the Yankees' market and looking for anything that counteracts what is normally an incessant drumbeat of pinstripe puffery. 1.5 GA is not a comfortable wildcard lead at all, especially given the current pitching situation, and the inability to gain ground on Tampa Bay has been pretty frustrating.

Let's hope that tonight Danks tanks... see you in the game thread later.

laura k said...

We didn't even know about the propane explosion until this morning's newspaper. Nowhere near us. Thanks for thinking of us, tho!

A little night musing said...

Pinstripe puffery... I like that. (The phrase, not the puffery.)

I'm finding it remarkably easy recently to avoid sinking into anti-MFY feeling. Following three teams simultaneously might have something to do with that. (Increases the odds that something somewhere will make me smile, too.)

I won't rub it in when they don't make the postseason. No, really! I won't! Much.

allan said...

I was expecting some more Schadenfreude today...

So was I! But the various columnists and back page editors did not comply.

A little night musing said...

Here's some more schadenfreude. Kind of.

AMNY is Newsday's freebie, and, it seems, their online presence now.

Note: you may want to take a cleansing breath before you read it, since there's a throwaway line about the Red Sox as well...