Projo Sox Blog

Red Sox starting pitching has been, at best, inconsistent, and at worst, bad enough to cause panicked cringing and frantic attempts to cover the eyes. But reinforcements are on the way.

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 5 innings for Triple-A Pawtucket against Toledo Friday night, giving up two runs on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 9. He took the loss in his third Pawtucket rehab start

Manager Terry Francona said Matsuzaka is likely to start in Boston towards the end of the coming week. If he replaces Justin Masterson in the rotation, his turn would come Friday. It's possible the team could tweak the rotation slightly to allow Matsuzaka to start on a different day - but it's a safe bet he'll be starting one of the team's games towards the end of next week.

"Yeah, I think you can pretty much expect that," Francona said.

Masterson is the likeliest candidate to go back to the bullpen, but Francona said that nothing is set in stone. Masterson said he is starting to settle in as a starter -- despite his 4.89 ERA.

"I feel like I'm getting comfortable in the starting role at this point, just knowing my routine, knowing what I want to do," he said.

Regardless, the converted reliever has maintained that he's happy to pitch wherever the team wants him.

"It's not like if I go back in the pen, it's a demotion or anything like that. If I do go to the pen, it's already so strong, maybe I go back and be that long guy, fill a gap there somehow," Masterson said.

In all likelihood, Matsuzaka's return would mean that Hunter Jones would be sent down to Pawtucket. Jones has an 8.00 ERA in his month-long Boston tenure.

The word coming out of Pawtucket on Matsuzaka, meanwhile, has been nothing but good. Matsuzaka was given a vague diagnosis of weakness in his pitching shoulder, and the team disabled him last month after a poor performance in Boston.

"The official reports were pretty good.... it sounds like he's pretty strong, he felt pretty good about his outing. Which is really good," Francona said.

Shutting Matsuzaka down earlier in the season was a tough decision for the team, Francona said. Matsuzaka himself has suggested he was healthy enough to continue pitching, but Francona said the team has to think long-term.

"Pitching's hard to find. Trying to do the right thing, isn't very easy to do sometimes. Especially when, I guarantee you, Daisuke would have taken the ball," he said.

Considering how poor Sox starting pitching has been in this first quarter of the season, it seems like an even tougher move to stomach. But Francona remained confident that, coupled with the return of Matsuzaka, his staff will turn itself around.

"They will. They're too good, they work too hard -- we'll get it fixed. We'll get it figured out," Francona said.

 Tags  Daisuke Matsuzaka Dan Barbarisi Justin Masterson Terry Francona

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