Dice had been troubled by a sore muscle on the right side of his neck and was unable to complete a bullpen session over the weekend, but he somehow convinced the Red Sox that he was well enough to go last night in Oakland. (Or perhaps the Sox took a gamble, not having any other viable options.) Regardless, Matsuzaka lasted only nine batters and three outs, allowing five runs.
Afterwards, he said:
Leading up to the start, my neck tightened up a little bit and I ended up not being able to throw a bullpen. I focused on getting myself into condition to pitch tonight. I went out there tonight and ended up not being to get my arm through. ...Gomez is one of only two available infielders on the 40-man roster not on the big club. Jose Iglesias is the other.
My body wasn't in the condition it probably should have been. Despite the home run in the first inning, I got out of that inning and I thought I'd be able to fight through a few more innings.
Also, WEEI reports:
ReplyDelete"{A}n industry source confirmed that the Red Sox plan to call up Justin Germano on Wednesday. The right-hander had exercised an opt-out clause in his contract on Monday after he was not added to the Red Sox' big league roster by July 1. However, the Sox will add Germano to their roster within the 48-hour window that they have (which expires on Wednesday afternoon) to do so. The 29-year-old is 9-4 with a 2.40 ERA, 72 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 105 innings this year for the PawSox."