Sox encounter first bump in the road

Beckett's blister could spell a trip to the DL for the dominating hurler

Call it an avulsion. Call it a blister. Call it a torn flap of skin.

However you choose to classify the injury to Sox 7-game winner Josh Beckett's middle pitching finger, one thing you can certainly label it as is bad news.

According to a piece in today's Globe by Gordon Edes, Beckett will more than likely miss his next scheduled start, Friday against the Braves at Fenway, and the probability is very high that Beckett will be forced to the DL with yet another nagging blister-type injury.

Nine times in Beckett's 6+ year career he has landed on the disabled list, and six of those trips have been the result of skin injuries to his right middle finger. Of those six trips, three happened in a 3-month span in 2002 and two occurred within a 2-month stretch in 2004. Also, out of the six visits, two were extensive: 18 days in '02 on the third trip, and a whopping 24 days out of action in July of '04.

What I'm trying to say is this does not look good for the team's, and league's, best pitcher. The long, storied history of this problem with this digit would seem to suggest that the Sox will be without the anchor of the 2007 staff for a while in order to have him healthy for the second half.

There's no way the Sox management & ownership can afford to have him make three trips to the DL with this thing this season like he did with the Marlins did in '02, so you can bet your last Fenway Frank that they will be extra cautious with their prized pitcher this time around.

Good think Dice-K is stepping up at the right time, 'cause he's gonna need to pick up the slack in Beckett's absence.

What, you thought Tavarez was going to do it?