Game Preview: Sox @ Philly GM3

Masterson (3-1, 2.90) vs. Kendrick (6-2, 4.54)
Game 3 of 3 1:05 @ Citizens Bank Park

In my exuberance over the Celtics winning title #17 last night I failed to touch on a significant piece of injury news that rippled through the nation yesterday:

Bartolo Colon was placed on the DL due to a back injury he incurred swinging the bat against Cole Hammels the other night.

The irony here is that the Sportscenter goons were cracking on Colon's less-than-glorious swings against the hard-throwing Phillies southpaw. Little did we know one of those ugly hacks would render Colon unable to perform, although anyone watching could've guessed something wasn't right.

I mean when was the last time you saw someone corkscrew their batting helmet off trying to hit a breaking ball?

The Sox recalled righthander Chris Smith to take Colon's place on the roster, and the good news is that Daisuke Matsuzaka should be able to start Saturday against the Cards at Fenway after completing his rehab Monday night at Pawtucket.

So the injury merry-go-round continues for Boston, but as usual the team will keep plugging away and hope to win its third straight road series with a victory this afternoon in the rubber match with the Phils.

Justin Masterson will make his second straight road start against young Phillies righty Kyle Kendrick in what could be a battle of future staff aces.

After winning his first three decisions Masterson took his first major league loss last Friday in Cincy despite notching a career high 9 strikeouts and only letting up three runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Reds.

Kendrick, meanwhile, has been a pleasant surprise for Philadelphia, winning five games in a row since late April and proving to be a capable backup to aces like Hammles, Moyer and the disappointing Brett The Animal Myers.

If Boston is going to take this series Masterson will have to do what teammate Jon Lester did last night - shut down the powerful trio of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and pat Burrell. Those three boppers went 0-12 with 8 Ks last night, and if you have any hopes of defeating this team you've gotta keep this potent Philly offense in check.

As long as Mike Timlin doesn't enter the game we should be alright.

Or Oki.

Just pitch another Masterpiece, Justin, and then we won't have to worry about the pen men.

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Sox Drawer: Matsuzaka to the DL

The results of the MRI on Daisuke Matsuzaka's shoulder revealed a mild strain of the rotator cuff and the team decided to place the undefeated starter on the disabled list retroactive to Wednesday.

The good news is that the damage was minor and Dice-K feels well enough that he thought he could pitch through the discomfort, but luckily he is not in charge of such decisions and the Boston brass opted to protect its $101 million investment and let him rest for 15 days before reevaluating his condition.

This makes Dice K the third Sox starter to make a trip to the DL this season, following Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz, but luckily for Boston the rotation is deep enough, especially with the addition of Bartolo Colon, to weather this latest setback.

Plus Buchholz is due back soon and Justin Masterson is just a phone call away, so hopefully this situation won't come back to bite Boston in the ass.

To take Matsuzaka's place on the roster Jeff Bailey, who was already summoned to Baltimore from Pawtucket in preparation for this scenario, was activated.

Another day, another setback for the defending champs. Time for someone (ahemJoshBeckett) to step up and fill the void created by losing the AL leader in wins and second leading ERA man.

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Another week, another Sox player on the DL

Sox lose Moss to DL due to emergency appendectomy, but recall a pitcher, not an outfielder, to replace him

Already this season Boston has had to deal with disabled list trips by its top starter, Josh Beckett, starting third baseman Mike Lowell, backup infielders Alex Cora and Sean Casey as well as lengthy illnesses to Jason Varitek and Daisuke Matsuzaka and nagging injuries to David Ortiz, Coco Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury and JD Drew.

Now they can add backup outfielder Brandon Moss to the list.

In an odd twist of fate the solid 24-year-old had a terrific game at the plate and in the field on Friday, but said he was feeling funny and was not 100% during that game.

By Saturday evening his condition had worsened, causing team doctors to send him to the hospital to find out what was wrong.

Hours later Moss had his appendix removed, sending him to the shelf for at least a month, and suddenly the Sox had another key piece of the roster removed as well.

But in a move that will cause considerable head scratching, especially if an emergency situation arises or one of Drew's myriad maladies flares up, team management decided to bring up reliever Craig Hansen to takes Moss' spot on the roster, leaving the club with just four outfielders.

Supposedly Julio Lugo is the emergency outfielder, even though he hasn't played the position but a handful of times in his career and acted like someone asked him to drink arsenic when he was interviewed about the prospect of manning the outfield turf.

But hey, after making his league-leading 9th error at short yesterday, maybe a BJ Upton-esque shift might be the best thing for him.

Seriously, though, with Drew spending more time in the trainer's room than on the field in his career and Coco and Ellsbury already nursing nagging ailments, is it really wise to go with four OFs for this vital road trip to Detroit, Minnesota and B'More?

I guess it has something to do with there not being any real viable candidates ready to make the jump down at Pawtucket, with Bobby Kielty on the DL, but this situation has the potential to blow up in their face should Drew come up lame again.

All I know is if I see Lugo out there, I'm closing my eyes and saying a prayer that the ball is never hit his way.

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(bad) Breaking News: Chipper was right-Schill is hurt

Sox announce Curt Schilling will head to the DL two days after Braves batters speculated on his health

My question is, would we be in this situation right now if Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and other Braves hadn't commented on Schill's startling lack of velocity following Monday night's game, surmising that he must be injured?

Or would Curt, the ultimate warrior and proud plow horse of the staff, have just kept plugging along through this bout of what he classified as a "touch of tendinitis" in his shoulder, only to injure himself further by not admitting in to the problem?

After the outing, a 9-4 Boston loss in which Schill allowed 10 hits and six runs in less than five innings and didn't register a strikeout for the first time since 1993, a span of 348 games, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones had this to say about Curt's less-than-impressive heater:

"The fastball that I saw register the highest was 89, and that was with the bases loaded. Schill always had that innate ability to catch another gear when he needs it, and for me to only see 89 miles an hour tells me, you know, he might be hurt. I don't know."

Turns out he did know.

According to the Globe, Curt said the dropoff in velocity he experienced Monday reminded him of the time he had a torn labrum in 1995, and that he didn't have any pain until the following day. He described the horrible felling of waiting for that pain to return overnight as "an eerie similarity that was playing with my head pretty severely," and who the hell can blame him?

Luckily this time the pain didn't follow, and an MRI showed no structural damage to the area, but still Boston will be without one of its top starters for at least two weeks and possibly more, depending on how he responds to treatment.

With the off day tomorrow Tito will shuffle the rotation so that they won't need to fill his slot until Tuesday, and speculation has already begun as to who will get the nod, previous callups Kason Gabbard, Devern Hansack or rigorously rehabbing lefty Jon Lester.

The Sox fared okay when Josh Beckett missed a couple of weeks in May, going 6-3 while he was out, and with Dice-K, Wake and Tavarez all pitching well of late, the loss of Schilling shouldn't affect the team too much. Plus at his age and with the history of trouble, there's no way anyone would want him to continue pitching with even the slightest discomfort in the arm, so the trip to the DL is for the best.

Although top of the rotation starters visiting the disabled list is not something a playoff ball club wants to have occur at any point during the season, it's better to have it happen early in the year, be cautious with the problem like they were with Beckett, and make sure the hoss is healed up for the stretch run.

Get well soon, Schill.

And please, no more keeping secrets, okay?

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Beckett goes on the DL for 10 time in career, 1st with Boston

As reported last night after the game, Red Sox ace Josh Beckett will be placed on the disabled list due to a skin tear of the right middle finger of his pitching hand.

All together now, RSN: FUCK!!@!!#$*&^%$#!!!

Of Beckett's nine previous trips to the DL, all with the Marlins, six of those visits were the results of similar injuries to the same digit, and one of those stints, in July of 2004, forced him to miss nearly a month while the injury healed.

This time the problem isn't believed to be as serious as in the past, and the Sox report that Becks should only miss a couple of starts. But with his history, who can be sure this thing won't be a recurring nightmare for the rest of the season?

Devern Hansack will be recalled from the PawSox to pitch tonight vs. the Braves in Beckett's place, and other subs for his services include Kason Gabbard, Kyle Snyder or the immortal Runelvys Hernandez.

Not exactly a group of guys who will strike fear in the heart of the opponenet.

Let's just hope this injury is a minor one, because if Beckett and his 7-0 record have to spend a month on the bench, that 9 1/2 lead over the Stanks could get slim pretty quickly.

On the bright side, there is rain forecast again tonight in the Hub.

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