Official Boston Red Sox 2009 Thread

All the pitches in the World Baseball Classic and spring training appear to have caught up with Daisuke Matsuzaka. The right-hander of the Boston Red Sox was pulled after just one inning Tuesday with what the team diagnosed as arm fatigue, according to MLB.com.

Matsuzaka threw 43 pitches, only 22 of which were strikes. After being staked with a 3-0 lead before even throwing a pitch, Matsuzaka gave up five hits and five runs in that one inning, walking two and striking out none. He faced 10 batters. Despite 10 shutout innings from the bullpen, the Red Sox lost, 6-5, to the A's in 12 innings.

"We talked to him the other day," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He expressed a couple of days ago some kind of general soreness or fatigue in the back of his shoulder from the [Classic]. We thought we talked it through pretty good in Anaheim and he came out tonight and didn't really have a whole lot. We'll re-evaluate him in the morning."

Source: MLB.com

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The Boston Red Sox have applied the brakes to rehab process and attempted comeback of right-hander John Smoltz, according to MLB.com.

"I just think it's in his best interest to just slow down a bit," Francona said. "It's not real great medical terminology, but that's about the best way I can put it. He's been grinding pretty hard."

Smoltz, who is recovering from shoulder surgery last June, had been scheduled to throw live batting practice Thursday in Fort Myers, Fla., as part of his progression to pitching in rehab games. But the Red Sox have delayed the throwing program to allow Smoltz to rebuild his arm strength, according to the MLB.com report.

"I think everybody involved thinks, 'Let's just give him a week of strengthening. A little bit of rest from throwing, and he'll be better for it,'" Francona said. "That's the best way I can put it."

Source: MLB.com

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The Boston Red Sox are beginning to wonder what is wrong with Josh Beckett, according to the Boston Globe.

Thursday Beckett went to the mound with dominating stuff out of the bullpen. He was betray by his location.

In four starts since his Opening Day masterpiece, Beckett is 1-2 with a 9.14 ERA. His last two starts have yielded 15 runs, 20 hits, and 7 walks in 9 2/3 innings. Beckett says he feels "real good" physically, and "that's part of the frustration."

Beckett's ugliest and shortest outing of the season — 7 runs, 10 hits, and 3 walks in 4 2/3 innings — occurred on a night when "he had dominating-type stuff," pitching coach John Farrell said. Of the 14 outs he recorded, eight came by strikeout. The gulf between the quality of his pitches and his results, created by a lack of command, left Beckett searching for answers, according to the Globe.

"I just gave up seven [expletive] runs in five innings," Beckett said in a nearly empty visitors' clubhouse. "That's not close to me. Is that close to you? Yeah, it's frustrating. It's a lot of things. I just got to make adjustments. Obviously, I didn't do that between my last two starts."

Source: Boston.com

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John Smoltz(notes) will make one more rehab start, Thursday in Syracuse, and could be ready to pitch Tuesday against the Florida Marlins. If there are no changes in the rotation his following two starts after that would be against the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Globe reported.

"I don't know if perfect is the word I would look at," he said recently. "When I signed with the Sox, I had no idea we were going to play the Braves. With the history and everything that's gone on, that cannot be a focus for me. If it falls that way, it falls that way, and I'll certainly attack them like I'll attack the Yankees or whoever else I play.

"For me, the game can't be bigger than what I'm trying to do. That game will be too big. There will be so much surrounding it, I don't know that breath will be something that comes easy. The only request I had was that I just didn't want it to be my first start. It looks like it would be the second start."

But before that can happen, the Sox will need to do something with their rotation. The team has five starters and unless one of them suddenly develops a disabled list-worthy injury, a decision will need to be made, according to the Globe.

"We've certainly had conversations," manager Terry Francona said. "Theo [Epstein's] been involved in all of those. We'll figure it out. These things have a way of getting worked out."

Source: Boston.com

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Dice-K expects to pitch again this season.

Boston right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes) is scheduled for his first bullpen session Tuesday since going on the disabled list June 21 with a strain in his pitching shoulder.

Matsuzaka, who has been at the Red Sox spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla., worked out with the team during a two-game series at Tampa Bay.

He played long toss and threw at 60 feet on flat ground Wednesday, and said his goal, “of course,” is to rejoin the team before the season ends.

Boston manager Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell spent almost an hour each talking with Matsuzaka, who is 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA in eight starts this year.

It was the first face-to-face meeting between Matsuzaka and Francona since the pitcher went public with concerns over how the team was handling his training techniques last week.

“It was really productive,” Francona said. “Regardless of whether I think he messed up or was wrong, we all make mistakes. It’s where we go from here. That’s more important to me than what happened last week. I felt real good about it and I think he did, too.”

Matsuzaka went 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA last season. He told the reporters in English that he had no intention of criticizing the team.

“Training no problem,” Matsuzaka said. “No problem with Red Sox. We worked it all out.”

Matszuaka has been working on improving his English speaking skills on a daily basis.

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The return of Tim Wakefield to the Boston Red Sox rotation and the improvement of Junichi Tazawa has left another veteran pitcher out in the cold in Beantown. Pitcher Brad Penny is apparently a free man. The Red Sox supposedly released him late last night, according to the Boston Herald.

Penny is apparently hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow former Red Sox hurler John Smoltz, who signed on with the St. Louis Cardinals after Boston released him and has been fantastic. Penny has a crummy record in his last five starts (0-4) and a horrendous ERA in that time (9.11), but he's supposedly hoping that some contending team will take him anyway.

Penny, though, is reportedly saying that he doesn't want to be in the bullpen.

Source: Boston Herald

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