As the rain poured outside in Boston and we pushed the clocks ahead an hour, it was a mixed bag of news in Florida. Between Dice-K’s apparent neck stiffness, Beckett being scratched from his Sunday start, Lowrie’s uncertain status, Varitek’s debut, roster cuts and Ryan Westmoreland’s diagnosis, it was, for the most part, a weekend the Sox would like to forget. Here is a recap of all the headlines from this weekend and their impact on the 2010 campaign.
Dice-K
After throwing just 5 pitches while warming up before live batting practice on Saturday, Dice-K complained of a stiff neck and could not continue. His slow comeback from a back injury had slated him to finally pitch against live competition, but that has now been postponed. This setback all but guarantees Dice-K will not be ready for opening day and will likely begin the season on the DL and remain in Florida for extended Spring Training.
If you are Tito and Theo, that just solves your 6-man rotation problem. Good thing no one saw this coming from 2348907120 miles away. For those who missed it, check out my concerns with Dice-K from January.
Beckett
Josh Beckett was scratched from his start on Wednesday due to an illness. According to Francona, “He wasn’t feeling good at all. The more we talked about it this morning at BP, we could tell he was battling it. I don’t know if we’d have gotten a lot of good to come out of it.”
There is nothing to be concerned about here with Beckett, it just seems like the common cold and the team was being extra cautious. He is scheduled to make his next start on Friday against the Pirates.
Lowrie
Jed Lowrie hasn’t been available for the past several games do to extreme fatigue. According to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, Lowrie told management he felt as though he “got hit by a truck” and has been constantly exhausted. The Red Sox staff are running Lowrie through a plethora of tests in an effort to rule out all possibilities. Francona said, “We want to get him back on his feet and eliminate anything it could ever be. The safest way to go about that is to run a bunch of tests. I’m sure we’re being overly cautious, but I’m not sure you can be.”
After a wrist injury sidelined Lowrie for most of 2009, I certainly hope there is nothing major going on here. If healthy, Lowrie could have the chance to play a pivotal bench role later in 2010, but this delay will only prolong that opportunity. Is anyone else thinking how eerily familiar this is too Rocco Baldelli?
Tek
On Sunday, we finally got to see the Grapefruit league debut for the Captain, Jason Varitek. After taking nearly a week off to tend to his ill father, Tek got the start behind the plate against Twins. After the game, Tek said, “It’s exciting to be back out there and do things. Getting out there was nice with everything that’s been going on. It was nice to get on the field.”
It is great news for the Sox to have their Captain back, even if he is no longer their starting catcher. Tek’s veteran presence and knowledge can only benefit the young Sox pitching staff going forward. Barring any setbacks with his father, I anticipate seeing him more often over the next two weeks leading up to opening day.
Roster Cuts
The Red Sox made their 1st cuts to the major league camp roster this weekend. In total, 12 players were sent to minor league camp. The Sox are beginning to shrink their roster in anticipation of opening day, which is now less than 3 weeks away. The 12 players are: Randor Bierd, Casey Kelly, Robert Manuel, Kris Johnson, Adam Mills, Jose Iglesias, Lars Anderson, Kyle Weiland, Che-Hsuan Lin, Luis Exposito, Yamaico Navarro and Ryan Kalish. All were non-roster invitees, except Jose Iglesias who was optioned to AA Portland.
Westmoreland
By now, I’m sure everyone has heard the sad news of Ryan Westmoreland’s diagnosis of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Westmoreland will need to undergo brain surgery in the near future and my heart goes out to his family. He is a strong kid and will fight through this difficult time. Check out my post on Westmoreland from this weekend.
Games
Friday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals was postponed due to the rain storm that blew up the East coast and is still dumping buckets of water on Boston. According to Peter Abraham of Boston.com, the game will be played as a split-squad double-header on March 22nd.
Saturday’s game was a tight 3-2 victory over the Pirates at City of Palms Park. Clay Buchholz pitched well, hurling 3 innings of 1 hit ball and allowing only 1 BB with 2 K’s. The offense was limited to 6 hits, but made them count with a 3-run 7th inning to put the Sox ahead for good. Michael Bowden pitched a shaky 9th, walking 3 and giving up 1 ER on his way to the save.
Sunday’s game against the Twins was the 4th match-up in the coveted Mayor’s Cup race. The Red Sox claimed the victory 6-4 and took a commanding 3-1 lead in the Cup race with 3 games to go. After Beckett was scratched, Ryne Miller stepped in to get the start. He struggled a bit, but you can’t blame the kid. He learned he would start just an hour before game time, which would be tough for any pitcher. After going down 3-0 after the 1st, the Sox put 6 runs on the board in the 4th and 5th innings. Pedroia, Youk, Hermida and Reddick all had 2 hits in the winning effort.
Check back in a little bit for a preview of Mike Lowell’s debut and today’s game against the Orioles.
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