Sox Drawer: Dice K has shoulder injury

Daisuke Matsuzaka leaves the field last night in Seattle after tweaking his shoulder before the 5th inning of Boston's 4-3 loss (AP photo)

When Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was removed from last night's game against Seattle after tossing a couple of warm up pitches prior to the 5th inning, it was assumed he had a problem with either his side or back.

Turns out it could be a lot worse than that.

The official diagnosis from the front office is that Boston's 8-0 ace has what is commonly referred to as "shoulder fatigue", which in turn sounds both potentially benign yet incredibly ominous.

Evidently this problem has struck the 27-year-old righthander a few seasons into his professional career in Japan. And with a kid who once threw 250 pitches in a game and then pitched again the next day, is it any surprise that he would have arm troubles?

And therein lies the problem. Although he is relatively young, there are so many pitches already on his arm that he is a candidate for a major shoulder injury at any time. And it's not like he's keeping his pitch count down this year, either.

Not only does Dice lead the league in wins, he also leads the league in walks and is 13th in total number of pitches thrown with 1,121.

That number is magnified because 10 of the 12 pitchers ahead of him are in the top 20 in innings pitched, while Matsuzaka has accumulated his large tally as the 32nd place hurler in innings pitched.

In other words he's thrown a shitload of pitches compared to the amount of time he's actually in the game.

The team has sent the pitcher back to Boston to have an MRI on his shoulder, and Francona refused to declare whether or not he will make his next scheduled start Monday in Baltimore.

But let's be frank, here. The Sox have $101 million invested in this guy, and with a past history of shoulder trouble and as many pitches as he's thrown this year, they almost have no choice but to rest him for a week or so, get him some therapy and rehab and hope and pray that this goes away and is never a problem again.

Because the alternative - throw him out there Monday and then have him suffer a full-blown major injury - is just too much of a risk to take.

In other words, look for Clay Buchholz or Justin Masterson to get the start against the O's.