« The sky, it has brightened
Main
Tonight's lineups »
May 16, 2007
Terry Francona just announced that Josh Beckett will indeed miss his next scheduled start, on Friday, because of the avulsion on his right middle finger.
But there is no roster move to report, so at this point the team is not placing the ace on the disabled list.
Who the starter will be is unknown at this point -- Francona said it will not be Kyle Snyder, since he is both not stretched out enough and "we like him in his role." An as-yet-unnamed player will be called up from Pawtucket to make the start.
"Josh is doing very well, it's just not a mistake we want to make" by sending him out too early, Francona said. "Missing him for a start is not that nice, so to multiply" the number of starts he'd potentially miss would be worse.
When asked if Beckett would be back on the mound the next time his spot in the rotation came up, next Wednesday, Francona said, "We're 'til Friday. That's where we're stopping the media information."
Also from Francona's pre-game chat:
* Jon Lester threw a side session today and faced three hitters in a simulated situation. He will go to Ottawa to meet up with the PawSox this weekend and throw 50 to 55 pitches. "And he must be feeling good because he really fought us on that. He wanted to throw 100," Francona said.
Lester was close to making his return after being diagnosed with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma last August, but he experienced tightness in his left forearm during his second rehab start with Pawtucket on May 2.
* J.D. Drew will not start tonight, with Wily Mo Pena getting the nod in right field instead. When he woke up this morning, Francona said, Drew didn't feel like he had hit a wall -- which he did, last night trying to catch a Brandon Inge home run -- and when he arrived at the ballpark, he didn't feel any worse than he did last night when he left the game after the seventh inning.
* Mike Timlin, recovering from tendinitis, played catch today and did fine. He will have a down day as far as the team's throwing program for him tomorrow, though Francona said he can play catch again if he'd like.
Posted by Shalise Manza Young 
at 4:34 PM | Permalink
