OAKLAND, Calif. — This afternoon, on what should be a bright, sunny day at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in the series finale against the A’s, the Red Sox will begin to trot out their starting rotation as they originally intended.
Clay Buchholz, returning from a hamstring injury, will take the mound for the Sox against Oakland’s Gio Gonzalez, and after John Lackey starts tomorrow night against the Mariners in Seattle, Josh Beckett will make his return from a back ailment Friday at Safeco Field.
When and if Buchholz and Beckett make it through their starts, there will be no more issues regarding wounded Boston pitchers. At least that’s the hope.
“We’re not there yet,’’ cautioned pitching coach John Farrell. “We think things are going to get better. We certainly hope it.
“We thought when our organization put this staff together that it would be one of the strengths of our ball club. We’ve done it the hard way, and a few of our guys have been hurt, but we cross our fingers we don’t sustain any more injuries the rest of the way and we can get through the season with the five starters we thought we were going to go with [plus Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka].
“And don’t forget, having Wake [last night’s starter Tim Wakefield] has been huge for us, being able to insert him in the rotation.’’
The Sox will continue to be shorthanded offensively with catcher Victor Martinez trying hard to come back soon and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and second baseman Dustin Pedroia not expected back until early August.
But this team was largely built on a rotation that should have been second to none. Because of injuries, it has fallen short of that.
But while the Sox hurlers get healthy, the Yankees’ are falling apart, with Andy Pettitte out for more than a month because of a groin injury, A.J. Burnett imploding, and Phil Hughes’s innings being monitored. So here we go.
Will this start the cycle during which the $47 million devoted this year to Lester, Buchholz, Lackey, Beckett, and Matsuzaka will begin to pay off and the staff will start dominating opponents?
Whether this grand plan can be executed to perfection is another story. But it certainly needs to be if the team is going to succeed.
We certainly know what’s ahead for the Yankees. They’ll compensate for the loss of Pettitte by likely making a deal for another starting pitcher.
Cliff Lee was their target because the Yankees probably would have been able to re-sign him (and he still may go there this offseason as a free agent because he won’t be staying in Texas).
But whether New York lands Houston’s Roy Oswalt, who currently has a minor ankle contusion, or Arizona’s Dan Haren, who isn’t pitching well, they’ll wind up with someone.
